


Magic

by jongleur



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-08 01:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongleur/pseuds/jongleur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>White Eskimo and The Rogue are two of the hottest British bands at the moment; both have millions of fans, both are breaking records, and both are just a group of boys living their dreams. They’re also in a very public feud with each other. But what happens when White Eskimo’s singer, Harry Styles, meets The Rogue’s keyboardist, Louis Tomlinson? Nothing good, really. Or maybe something so beautiful everyone else can screw it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :) So I was on a break from school and because I have no social life (who needs one, anyway?), I wrote this one shot that was originally supposed to be 10k but hey. Anyways this is fiction, not true. I apologize for using dozens of songs from other artists (I’ll give you guys a link later for all of the songs) and I apologize in advance to any Lana del Rey fans, ha, sorry. If you see any inaccuracies please, please, do tell me so I can edit it later on. Alright, that’s it, enjoy! I dont even know, man….
> 
> thanks to some really cool people there's now a french translation! http://one-shot--one-direction.skyrock.com/

**MAGIC**

_Baby c’mon over_  
I don’t care if people find out   
They say that we’re no good together  
And it’s never gonna work out

**-   -**

 “So, what can you guys tell us about this new upcoming album of yours? What’s the difference between  _Rocket Feet_  and your debut album, the self-titled,  _White Eskimo_?’’

“Well, at the beginning of last year we, as a band, were still looking for  _that_  sound…the sound that could define White Eskimo as a whole. So, I guess we were still experimenting with that, and I think we did a pretty good job with our first album, but it still didn’t sound a 100% us, I guess. This time around we definitely bottled our sound into the fifteen songs that we chose for Rocket Feet.” Will explained dramatically, moving his hands in quick succession. The small interviewer following his every move.

“Yeah, that’s it…we tried a different style this time, but I think, that when people hear whichever of our new songs…they’re going to listen and say  _‘oh yeah, that’s White Eskimo’…_ I think that was our main purpose _.”_ Harry added, flipping his hair almost as slowly as he spoke _._

“So you changed your style a bit, huh. But are we still counting on those famous guitar riffs, eh, Niall?” the man raised an eyebrow at the blonde guitarist.

“Heh, of [course](http://larryintheklainbowgondola.tumblr.com/magic). My guitar riffs  _are_  White Eskimo so, yes, you’ll hear them quite often, thank Jesus Christ.” Niall laughed along with the band, and if Will only smiled with tight lips, no one noticed.

White Eskimo wasn’t new to these type of interviews, with what being ‘famous’ for almost more than a year and a half and all. They knew how interviewers usually were; they knew how to handle them. Besides, if you ignored the obnoxious high voice of that particular interviewer, he was sort of alright. The petite man had only asked professional questions, he hadn’t meddled with their personal lives, it was all about the music and that was always good and appreciated.

“So! I hope this won’t bother you, but I’ve been meaning to ask…”

Spoke too soon.

“…are the rumors about you and The Rogue true? You know, you guys not liking each other and all that?” Yup, stupid interviewers looking for mayhem.

“Um, actually we didn’t know about that.” Haydn scrunched his eyebrows.

“Yeah, don’t pay attention to that sort of stuff, it only causes trouble and we rea—“

“We don’t make up stuff about other bands and we don’t need other bands making stuff up about us. We don’t need the publicity… unlike others.” Will interrupted Niall. Everyone turned to look at him; Niall, Haydn and Nick with confused looks and an irritated roll of eyes from Harry. The nameless interviewer with wide eyes and a hunger for more information.

“What exactly do you mean Will? Are you insinuating that The Rogue made up the rumors?”

“I’m not  _insinuating_  anything. I’m just saying that it’s a fact that this sort of stuff has been done before, you know?  Publicity stunts, I mean…when one or more artists need publicity and they resort to these type of things. Well, not us, we don’t need it.” White Eskimo’s front man continued while receiving a small unnoticeable kick in the shin from Nick.  

“So are you saying The Rogue made up the rumors to gain publicity?”

Harry and Haydn both whispered  _shut up, asshole_ at the same time.

“I don’t know. Probably. You know how they are.”

 ****

“He said what?” Louis squeaked, for a moment forgetting he was in an American breakfast show. Live.

“Yeah. He mentioned something about you guys needing publicity.” A smiling blonde woman, Rachel, helpfully added.

“I’m pretty sure they were joking…” Liam Payne, bassist of The Rogue, smiled as he scratched his neck.

“Yes, expect we have never talked to the mates before.” Zayn Malik commented monotously, except, yeah, he looked a bit annoyed.

George, a middle aged man with a giant mustache and Rachel’s partner in their breakfast show, then said, “Oh, but did you guys or not?”

“What? No! Of course not! We don’t have that kind of publicity! We  _earn_  it, that’s how you get publicity. If you’re good, you get it. If you’re not, then you don’t, easy.” Louis sniffed indignantly.

Stan, the lead singer smirked, “And when we say good, we mean having an original style and not copying rock bands from the 80’s and calling it original and making it your signature style.”

The audience  _oooh_ ed.

“I think that was a jab at White Eskimo, don’t you think Rachel?’’ George laughed.

“I do think so, George!” the woman winked.

Liam and Jona were seemingly drowning in embarrassment, Louis was still crossing his arms in a dignified manner, and Zayn and Stan were nodding with raised eyebrows.

How could White Eskimo be talking about them like that? The bastards.

“Well, we  _do_  kind of see were the rivalry between you guys is coming from. You’re both British bands, you boys are around the same age, and you’re making it big in America at the same time. We kind of had to wonder!”

“Yes, we have heard the rumors before…from the media and fans, but to be honest they were just rumors. Us and White Eskimo have never talked to one another before.” Liam tried to control the situation.

“Well, apparently they took the rumors seriously.” Zayn muttered under his breath, but it was loud enough for George, Rachel, his bandmates, and the cameras to hear it.

Liam decidedly ignored Zayn. “The only rivalry between us is purely business-like. With us releasing our new album,  _Kill Your Monsters,_  the same week they’re releasing theirs, which is purely coincidental by the way. But that’s it.”

“Until Now!” Rachel squealed at the camera.

All members of The Rogue and even George winced.

“N-no, no! That’s not what I meant, we st—“ Liam’s voice was drowned by Rachel’s once again.

“And we have to go to commercials, folks, but don’t change the channel because coming back we’ll have The Rogue performing a cover song of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag, _and_ their new hot single  _Icarus_! You don’t want to miss out on this!” she once again winked, and even Liam was finding her annoying at this point.

The cameras went out, George and Rachel went to make to get even more powder in their faces, and the boys let out a sigh of relief.

“Can you believe those assholes?” Stan said.

“Not nice.” Jona frowned.

Louis, now a bit over the shock of being called an attention-seeker said, “Yeah, those guys were rude… but I think we shouldn’t have commented on it. Now that I think about it, we’ll only bring more attention to this. And I don’t care what those idiots think, we’re not attention slash publicity seeking.”

“Thanks, Lou. Did you hear that? Let’s just ignore them, no more comments about this. We don’t need bad publicity, especially now that we’re only a week away from  _Monsters_ ’ release alright? Now let’s get ready and show this people we’re all about the music and nothing else.”

Zayn, Louis, Stan, and Jona all smiled at Liam’s words.

 ****

**@hot4tommo tweeted:  
** _see! I told u guys @WhiteEskimoOfficial were assholes!! My poor babies, they didnt do nothing! #teamtherogue_

**@HaydnisaPixie tweeted:**  
_…but…i like both bands ugh no, I guess the rumors were tru, they do hate each other. Kill me now, i cant decide ):_

**@mrshoranlegit tweeted:**  
_@ZaynRogueMalik look here u fuking bitch, if u say sumthing about my perfect band ull face the anger of al the Eskimos. we’ll fuking kill u #deathtotherouge_

**_@hazzathecupcake tweeted:_ **  
_#/deathtotherouge? Really? C’mon guys, you know I’m 100% Eskimo and I’m not a fan of The Rogue’s music, but that trend is simply idiotic. STOP TRENDING IT. Show that the Eskimo fandom is a mature one. Besides, it’s spelled The ROGUE! Geez._

**@louisfollowme tweeted:  
** _boo bear @LouisRogueTommo, u seemed really thrown out in that interview when they mentioned white skimo, don’t worry about them, ur fans still love you :) #louistheroguesloveyou_

**@alfredlikeshamburgers tweeted:  
** _What is all this fuckery of trends involving The Rogue and White Eskimo?! They both suck, get out._

**@arthurlikestea tweeted:  
** _@alfredlikeshamburgers don’t you have like your bedroom walls full of posters of louis from the rogue? #closetedrogue_

**_@LouisRogueTommo tweeted:_ ** _  
@arthurlikestea @alfredlikeshamburgers haha good one! #closetedrogue :)_

**_@MalikPapi said:_ ** _  
Look at Lou’s last tweet. *sigh* That boy outed himself once again. We don’t need more proof #zouisisreal_

_****_

“Louis, what is this supposed to mean?!” a balding man, Roger, if Louis recalled correctly, was on the other side of the wooden table, an iPad in his chubby hand.

Louis and his bandmates had been called to an emergency meeting by their management team. At 9 o’clock in the morning. So yeah, excuse Louis’ lack of reaction at anything the old man was yelling about.

“Why…why are you yelling, man? Chill.” Stan said, covering his eyes from the too much bright light.

“You, Stanley Lucas, don’t have the right to speak up.  _You_  are one of the main reasons about our  _other_  little problem.” Roger turned to Stan.

“Wait, what was the first one again?” Jona asked, and Liam could swear he heard Roger whimper as he turned around to face Lisa, one of their other managers. Lisa, who was stricter and far more fear-inducing than Roger. 

“The problem, Jona, no, wait, the  _first_ of our problems are the damn worldwide trends as of right now. Worldwide, I repeat.” She glared at Louis.

The blue eye boy made himself smaller.

“I’m going to read them to you, Louis.  _ClosetedRogue, LouisOutsHimselfAgain, HesNotEvenInTheCloset,_ and  _ZouisIsReal._ Four trends, Tomlinson, four worldwide trends about your sexuality in one day. Don’t you ever learn?!”

“It was just a harmless reply! It wasn’t even supposed to mean that!” Louis half heartedly replied.

“Oh, don’t give that crap, Louis.  _Closeted_  Rogue?! Couldn’t you be more obvious? You did this on purpose.” Lisa sighed. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Love me and feed me?” Louis smiled. As much as a rebellious teenager Louis was, no one could stay mad at Louis, not even his management; that was part of his charm, that’s why people liked him.

Lisa didn’t smile.

Marco yawned.

“Well, at least they got one trend wrong…the fuck with the Zouis, man? Don’t know why I would ever touch Zayn’s dick. Wouldn’t want to catch anything.” Jona and Liam snickered at that, Zayn and Lisa only glared, and even Roger, who was at the end of the table, cracked a smile.

“Wait, so what’s the  _other_  problem?” Liam questioned.

“Liam, do you even have to ask?” Lisa sternly said. “What the hell is going on with this White Eskimo stuff?! We don’t need this kind of stuff at the moment, we’re only days away from your album’s release!”

“We know, we know, we’re sorry, we’ll stop.” Louis raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m kind of looking at you, Lucas and Malik. I know you guys are bad tempered and yeah those kids didn’t have a right to make those kinds of statements, but they did and now you have to be the better band and ignore them with grace. That’s all I ask of you. And to not out Louis.”

“Yes, ma’m.”  the five boys chorused.

“You have to focus on your album release and your goddamn tour, alright?”

“Yes, ma’m.”

“Be glad it was me who told you off this time. You’re like giant babies.  Next time we’ll bring Richard in.”

None of them told her that neither Richard nor Roger scared them, the boss was Lisa, you know, after the actual  _boss_.

“Now, go, you have a signing to attend to.  _And no dramas_. That goes for all of you. Except you Liam, do something, anything.”

Four boys snickered while Liam turned red.

 ***

“Hello, guys! I know I promised a twitcam, like, two months ago…but, honestly, we haven’t had time for it with our new album coming up in a few days and all that, which we’re really excited about, by the way. We really think you’ll like it!” Harry heard Niall say to his webcam. The Irish blonde had always been the closest one to the fans, doing twitcams and following sprees most of the time; Harry also tried to show them how much he appreciated them, but he could barely find the time to sleep nowadays, let alone do twitcams. This time around, though, he had promised Niall to be there with him, if only at the back of his bed while simultaneously trying to sleep.  “By the way, I don’t know if you’ve noticed him, but Haz is right here, at the back. Say hello Harry!”

“Hiiii, people! I love you!”

“Now how about if you guys start sending questions or greetings or requests or anything, yes?”

Harry chuckled as his eyes dropped, he knew his fans—the so called Eskimos— they were crazy, he wanted to know what they were going to ask.

“This is from @abbyeskimoforever,  _Niall will you dance the Macarena? Also, I love you_. Aww, I love you too Abbey! And Alright! I’ll do it, let me just put the music on!” Niall fidgeted with his keyboard, seemingly looking for the Macarena on youtube.

Harry snorted, “Wait, Niall! Do it in just your boxers! And put on Haydn’s sombrero on!”

Niall sighed and glared at Harry, “I’ll get you for this, Mr. Styles.”

Harry went to the hotel room next door and got the sombrero Haydn had bought at Mexico when they were there doing promo stuff a few weeks ago. He snickered to himself when he came back and saw an almost naked Niall in front of the laptop. He tossed the sombrero to Niall as he grinned at him.

The music started and Harry couldn’t help but cackle, his hands went instantly to his mouth, trying to cover up the inhuman sound his lips produced. Still, it was too funny for Harry to control himself: Niall was dancing in only his bright red briefs (briefs!) and a sombrero, to the Macarena. Good times.

He checked his twitter, and just as he expected, the worldwide trends were  _Niall Dancing the Macarena_ ,  _Niall Naked_ ,  _White Eskimo Twitcam_ , and surprisingly,  _Harry’s Laugh_.

He went back to his bed, but now he was too awake to try and sleep so he decided he might as well stick to the whole twitcam.

“Okay, okay, read another one Niall!” he yelled over the music.

The guitarist stopped and went to the laptop, apparently he was staying in briefs and sombrero.

“Alright, that was fun! Let’s read another one…this one’s from @styleslimpy— Style’s limpy? Oh, god, that’s too good!” Niall laughed until he was red, but to be honest, he went red too easily.

“Har har, thank you sweetie, I love you too.” Harry stuck out his tongue.

Niall sobered up, “Okay,  _@styleslimpy_ , says, Can you guys play for us an unrecorded song? Something we’ve never heard before?… what do you say Hazza? I’ll bring my guitar if you’re up for it?”

Harry thought for a second. He had a lot of songs he’d written that Will had totally brushed aside and he wanted the fans to get the chance to listen to them. “Yes, why not?”

Niall went to get his acoustic, and suddenly, when Harry sat in front of the laptop, he became nervous. Of course, that was ironic and a tad stupid because, damn, he had already been in an international tour and had sung in front of the  _Queen of England._ But now, there he was, nervous of singing for his fans that loved him no matter what (through a computer, even) a song he had written himself and whom Will had said in very colloquial words ‘ _it sucks, harry, I won’t let you put it in our album’._

He sighed knowing he couldn’t very well back down now.   
  
Niall came back with his favorite acoustic guitar, one he hadn’t use in months now that he used his electric more than anything.

“So, I guess we’ll do it. Um, we have a lot of unreleased songs, this one unfortunately couldn’t make it on our new album, but I wrote it and I really really like it, so I hope you guys do too. It’s called  _Over Again_. Niall, sing the chorus with me.” His blonde friend gave him a confused glare. Niall usually didn’t sing very much, not even as backup vocals ( _your vocals aren’t that great, Ni, don’t ruin this for us_ , Will had said), but Harry was the one who had written the song and he had always had Niall in mind to sing the chorus with him. “Let’s do it.” He nodded.

The guitar strums started and Harry swayed with the music, he closed his eyes and  _yeah I can do this._

_“Said I never leave her, cause her hands fit like my t-shirt, tongue tied over three words, cursed…”_   the words came easily out of his mouth, Niall’s guitar strums and his voice became one. Niall joined for the chorus, and contrary to what Will had said, Harry thought they sounded good.

“ _If you’re pretending from the start, like this, with a tight grip, then my kiss can mend your broken heart, I might miss everything you said to me. And I can lend you broken parts that might fit, like this, and I will give you all my heart, so we can start it all over again_.” Yes, they sounded good, all the nerves Harry had felt were soon evaporating, and instead, the wonderful and familiar butterflies he felt whenever he sang suddenly appeared.

Even the little part of the song about British showers that had never sounded good with his voice, sounded decent.

The song soon finished and Harry felt giddy and happy and he hoped his Eskimos had liked the song as much as he had.

“Niceee!” his best friend grinned. “He’s really good, ain’t he people?”

“Nah, you sounded really good Ni, and  _you_  were playing the guitar on top of that!”

Niall blushed but still, his grin was unmovable.

Harry laughed and grabbed his phone; his mentions were exploding… _’that song didn’t make it? Put it in your next album_!’, ‘ _harry and niall r awesome’_ , and much to his delight _Best White Eskimo Song_  and  _Over Again Studio Version_  were trending in the US.

“Thank you so much, guys!” he laughed.

“Hey, Eskimos,  _Narry_  and  _Over Again_  are trending worldwide, YOU guys are awesome!” yelled Niall.

“I guess, we have time for more questions…no more dancing or singing though, all right? I’m right battered!”

“Read that one, mate.” Harry, now in front of the web cam too, pointed to twitter username @prettiestharry. Niall rolled his eyes.

“Okay, a question from @ _prettiestharry_ , username picked by Harry himself…the egocentrical bastard.” Both snorted. “…and it says, ahem,  _who do you think is the fittest mate from The Rogue_?”

Harry raised his eyebrows, he had forgotten all about the whole debacle involving The Rogue, he’d told Will off after the interview that had apparently started it all. He knew they shouldn’t have said anything (or really, just Will) so he saw this as a great opportunity to try and fix things.

“Their drummer, Zayn, I think.” Niall commented absent mindedly.

“Well, I don’t know them, show me a picture Nialler.”

Niall chuckled, while googling pictures of them. “Here, have a look.”

Harry laughed and made a show of examining each one of the members. His hand was comically rubbing his chin, when his eyes widened at the picture of a lithe boy with feathery brown hair, blue eyes, a keyboard and a microphone.

“Oh, that one,  _definitely_ that one.” He murmured, and he really hoped it came out as a joke to the fans because he was totally checking out the mate from The Rogue for real.

“The keyboardist? Louis something? I think you and the rest of the female population, mate. My cousin has a life size poster of him!  _And she’s 20_!” Niall laughed, and Harry was relieved because he seemed to be taking it as a joke. Good.

“Now…oh, look at this username! Nice username, we appreciate it after all this mess…@ImaWhiteRogue asks, which member of The Rogue would you like to be for a day and why?…Niall?” Harry read the screen.

“Erm, … I would like to be…erm, Louis because he gets all the ladies,” Harry laughed, “Or…Jona, their guitarist, because he has some damn cool guitars! How about you Harry?”

“Well, it’s obvious, I would like to be either Zayn, Jona, or their bassist or singer.”

“Wait, why?”

“Well, so I could get to spend the whole day with Louis!” Harry chuckled.

“Oh, my god, Harry!” groaned Niall.

Niall read another question, but Harry soon felt a buzz coming from his pocket, he had a message.

_Stop your twitcam._

It was from Modest, his band’s management team. Wait, what, why? He then received another message, this time it was Will.

_meeting with mangement, in 10, stop ur stupid twitcam and get redy. Sonds seriosu._

_****_

**@magiciannicholas**   **tweeted:**  
_oh, my, god! Did you guys see narry’s twitcam?! Awesome, they did the Macarena, sang a new song and talked about the rogue, nd harry’s inner gay came out LOL #narrystwitcam_

**_@WiallWins_ ** _**tweeted:**  
Guys, Harry’s comment about that Louis guy from The Rogue was an obvious jab at them. Get it through your thick skulls: White Eskimo doesn’t like The Rogue. He was kidding and making fun of them. And whoever trended ‘Harry likes the D’ is immature. This fandom sucks._

**_@headbandsarewhite_ ** _**tweeted:**  
God, now I ship Ziall (zayn + niall), but especially LARRY (louis + harry). #zIall #larry Also, OVER AGAIN SHOUULD BE ON THEIR NEXT ALBUM!!_

**_@MyPaynesHurt_ ** _**tweeted:**  
Wait, first the White Eskimo guys hate on our boys, and NOW they’ve got crushes on bad boi Zayn and lovely Peter Pan Louis? I don’t get them…_

**_@momentsareyoung_ ** _**tweeted:**  
Larry is trending worldwide! OMG that’s the power of the White Rogue fandom! We’re small but powerful lol :)))))_

_****_

“So, boys, we’ve got news.” Oscar, a plump man, with a white mustache said slowly.

“Are they good or bad?” Haydn asked, he sat on the other side of the table, next to his four other bandmates.

“For us, they’re good. You might think so too.  _Now_ , let me finish.” The five teenagers rolled their eyes, but kept quiet, of course, this went unnoticed by Oscar and Katie Ray, who was sitting next to the man talking, stoically looking at him. 

“I’m sure you remember what happened three days ago, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “The whole feud between you and  _The Rogue_ and that unnecessary comment from your band mate _…_ well, since that day, your pre order sales for Rocket Feet have gone through the roof, they’ve doubled. That’s…good, that’s really good.”

“You’re on your way on breaking records, guys. Of course, the other band’s pre order sales have also doubled, you have almost the same number of albums sold.” Katie Ray added.

“Erm, that’s really good!” Nick grinned.

“Wait…so what is this meeting for?” frowned Will, “Why did you call us?”

“We need you boys to keep this…  _thing_  going on between you and that band.”

Harry’s jaw opened, “What? You can’t be serious can you?”

**

“We are serious, Louis…” Lisa, a woman in a smart blue suit, terrifying red lips, short black hair, and sharp cheekbones, sighed.

“But that’s…that’s not what we’re about!” Jona said.

“Look, boys we know this. We know it’s not ideal in terms of…morality, but that’s showbiz for you.”

“If we do this we’re succumbing to what White Eskimo said about us. We’re not…we’re not attention seekers.” Liam added, his eyebrows so scrunched up it looked like he was in pain.

“Well, look at it this way, they are going to do it too!” Richard, a young man in a gray suit and known to be a bit greedy, said. “Modest is known for this kind of publicity stunts, and this is a great opportunity for both our teams.”

“They’re no doubt planning something about this too, right now.” Roger said, “Might as well milk it or all it’s worth.”

“I still don’t think it a great idea…” Zayn added.

“Well, if we did do this, what would we have to do?” asked Stan.

“We’ll try and keep it with just tweets. They don’t even have to be directed  _at_ them, just be obvious that you’re talking  _about_  them.” Lisa said.

**

“So, it’ll be just tweets?”

“And the occasional comment if the opportunity arises in an interview. Just remember to never say anything that makes  _you_  look like the bad guys, defend your fans, that always works, but don’t be daft like you always seem to be.” Oscar glared at Will.

“Well, what if we don’t want to?” ventured Niall. He had always been the most rebellious one out of the five of them, since they were just twelve and had barely formed the idea of becoming a band.

“Well, Mr. Horan, it appears as if you don’t understand the opportunity that has been given to us. You are already a big band here in America, but with this kind of publicity, your tour  _and_ your new album…you’ll be the hugest. If you can beat The Rogue, that is. I don’t really understand the problem, you already dislike them, they criticized you on national television, remember? Besides, you don’t have an option, we’ve already sent that tweet, now you just have to keep going.”

 ****

**@HoranTheEskimo said:  
** _woa , some guys need to learn the diffrnce btween 80s rock and progressive rock #musicclasses_

**@JonaRougeRobinson**  said:  
_@HoranTheEskimo easy there tigerrr, no need to waste your fingers typing away, better go practice those guitar riffs, eh, u need practice #guitarclasses_

WORLDWIDE TRENDS

Niall and Jona  
#GuitarDuel  
Finding Dory  
#guitarclasses  
#deathtotherogue  
#whiteeskimosucks  
kurtbastian is on  
Mishamigos   
RIP White Rogue  
Sherlock Night  
  


“Oh, my god! GUYS, GUYS, GUYS! HAVE YOU READ IT? HAVE YOU READ IT, YET?” Louis yelled across the room his friends were watching a movie in. He jumped on the bed earning  _oofs_  and  _ouch_ s and a couple of glares.

The band was still doing some promo in New York, and in two weeks time, they’d start with their North American tour, all five boys were excited.

“Read what Lou?” Zayn winced as Louis’ elbow squeezed his stomach.

“Kill Your Monsters is officially the fastest selling British album of all time!!!”

“Are you serious?”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“You better not be bullshitting us because I’m crying!”

“I need to call my mum!”

“It was on the news, and then on this article on the NY Times! They did a review on our album! Can you believe it?”

“Read it, what are you waiting for, you ass, read it!”

Stan took the newspaper from Louis, “ _I’ll_  read it, ahem…

**

_When you hear the name_ The Rogue, _the first thing that comes into mind are a bunch of girls screaming their heads off. That, and their first single, catchy and sometimes annoying_ It’s Time _, the song that hit radio stations all over the country just last year, from their debut album_ Underdog _(ironically, now one of the most famous bands in the world) are the first things that come to mind. To be honest, I wasn’t very thrilled to have the tedious job of listening to a teenage band and their repetitive songs. Well, I was wrong. I’ll admit it, I was very wrong. The Rogue, without a doubt, are one of the most talented British artists of the moment. With Lucas on vocals, Tomlinson on keyboard and doing an excellent job on backing vocals, Payne on bass, Robinson on guitar, and Malik on drums, these boys have not fallen short on impressing me. The highlights of the album are without a doubt,_ Icarus _, their first single,_ Kill Your Heroes _,_ Cough Syrup _(my personal favorite), and of course_ Sleepsong _. It is a known fact for everyone who keeps a tab on today’s most popular artists that The Rogue is in a very public feud with fellow British band, White Eskimo, and, while we don’t want to get involved in that particular publicity stunt, we do have something to say. Musically, we think The Rogue’s particular style of rock with a side of pop completely overshadowed White Eskimo’s own new album_ Rocket Feet  _(which is full of a similar type of rock but with shades of soft punk and indie melodies). The only thing I have to say, and hope the band members take this into consideration, is that the album is in need of more pop-acoustic songs and let Lucas’ brilliant vocals shine even more, just like they did in their_ Learning to Breathe _. All in all, the band’s clean instrumental plus Lucas and Tomlinson’s vocals have proven to me that they are more than just pretty faces; they have the potential to change the mainstream outlook on music. They have not only gained millions of fangirls with this album, but they have earned a fan out of me and I seriously hope these boys continue making music. If any British artist of the moment deserves the title of Fastest Selling British Album Of All Time, it’s them. Four stars out five._

**

“…four stars out of five.”

“You’re shitting me. You’re fucking shitting me!”

Louis couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t. It all had started when they were just measly fifteen year olds, in his own garage. With just an acoustic guitar, and an old keyboard; oh, and their teen hearts full of dreams and hopes. They didn’t even have neither a bass nor a drum set. Now there they were, five years later: two albums that got to the top ten on iTunes, broken records, millions of fans whom he was incredibly grateful for, and an international tour. All this, and he got to do it with his four best friends.

Louis started laughing. And crying.

Jona laughed with him uncontrollably until he actually noticed Louis’ tears.

“Oh, my god, guys! Louis is crying! He’s crying!”

“Don’t worry, I am too.” sobbed Zayn while snot dripped from his nose.

Jona moved a bit to were Stan and Liam where.

The door to Zayn and Liam’s hotel room opened revealing Paul, their bodyguard. Paul took the scene in front of him, Liam on the phone yelling ‘ _Mummy, I did it! I’m famous_!’, Stan who looked so ecstatic and was an exact replica of the Cheshire cat staring into nothing, and Jona who looked scared enough to try and hide behind Liam, away from Zayn who was crying really loud and saying nonsense in Urdu while snot came out of his nose, and Louis who was crying his eyes out while simultaneously laughing his head off.

Okay, usual day, then.

Paul shook his head with a smile on his face. The boys deserved everything they had.

“Ok, up! We need to get to Chicago by today at five in the afternoon and that’s not going to happen if Louis and Zayn flood the room. C’mon! Off you go.”

The boys stood and stared at Paul before throwing themselves at him.

“Paul, we made it!”

 ****

Demi Lovato and Ryan Seacrest walked arm in arm around the stage, both of them with a microphone in their hand and a giant smile in their face.

Will rolled his eyes.

“Are you enjoying the Teen Choice Awards?!” yelled the popstar singer.

A chorus of indistinguishable yells echoed through the room, most of them were girls.

“Amazing! Now for our next category…” Ryan stage whispered.

“…the most important award of the night.” Demi continued, “Best Artist of the Night!”

Haydn, Will, Niall, Nick and Harry looked at each other with giddy smiles.

“And the nominees are…”

The giant screens  showed a clip of  Katy Perry’s newest single; the crowd yelled mantras of  _Queen Perry_.

Next there was a video of Bruno Mars; the crowd went wild again and this time Will did clap.

Then the familiar strums of a guitar sounded through the giant speakers and the boys recognized the voice that accompanied it, it was their friend’s, Ed Sheeran.  The boys whistled and clapped for him along with the crowd that also went crazy.

The fourth clip showed them, White Eskimo, performing their first single,  _Fire._ The crowd went insane, the arena was so full of defeaning noise that even Demi and Ryan had to cover their ears. The noise didn’t dissipate when the fifth artist was shown on screen. It was The Rogue, and if it was even possible the crowd went even wilder than before.

“Alright guys, alright we know you love them, but please control yourselves!” Demi laughed trying to be heard above all the noise.

“And the winner is…remember, you guys voted for them…”

“Yes, yes, hurry up Seacrest!” Yelled Nick from his seat, but couldn’t even be heard three tables down.

“…White Eskimo!” both celebrities yelled and Harry was the first one stand up, yelling and flailing his arms around. The boy always got excited whenever they won anything, even a TCA.

The five boy stood up, all in suits and ties (a fact that Niall had complained about, he never really grew accustomed to them) and made their way towards the stage while they high fived as much fans as they could.

When they reached the microphone Haydn was the first one to talk, “Mates, this is mind blowing, to think there’s so much people out there rooting for us! To be against amazing artists like Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran?!”

“And Katy Perry!” interrupted Nick

“—yes, and Katy Perry, Nick. And to actually win? Simply mind blowing, thank you!”

“Erm, well I want to thank my mum and dad. Hi! Of course, our management…”

Harry coughed.

“…and to all of our fans of course!” Will finished for Niall.

“We wouldn’t be anywhere without you guys. We love you soooo much, my beautiful Eskimos.” Harry yelled, still with a wide grin in his face.

They left the stage behind and with it, the defeaning sound of their fans.

“Oh, my god guys, we beat Ed and Bruno!”

“And Katy.”

“Shut up. We  _beat_  The Rogue!”

“Oh, my god yes! They lost their two nominations!”

“Wait, but we lost Best British Single too.”

“Yeah, to  _Adele_  so that doesn’t count.  _Besides,_  we won this one!”

“They didn’t even come, did they?” Nick asked.

“No, they’re too pretentious to attend the Teen’s Choice Awards.” Sniffed Haydn.

“I think they’re actually at a charity event in Chicago…”

“ _Shut up_ , Niall, it’s the same thing!” Will added, as he took the surf board from him.

They all looked at it.

 

 ****

**@NickTheEskimo tweeted:**

_Whoah, guys! You are incredible thanks 4 voting 4 us! That TCA is phenomenal! Shout out to @edsheeran amazing mate!_

**@HazzaTheEskimo tweeted:  
** _Yes, thank you all for our first TCA :) On another note, I’m proud to say that Rocket Feet has gone 16x PLATINUM.  We love you guys, so much xx :)_

**@WillTheEskimo tweeted:** _  
@HazzaTheEskimo thats the most a british album has gotten! We are tied with adele ahhhh!_

**@HaydnTheEskimo tweeted:** _  
See? We don’t need the publicity!_

**@ZaynRogueMalik tweeted:  
** _@HaydnTheEskimo u just needed to practice mate_

**@NickTheEskimo tweeted:** _  
@ZaynRogueMalik @HaydnTheEskimo we don’t need pretty faces , just practice no help_

**@StanRogueLucas tweeted:** _  
@NickTheEskimo well, no you don’t have pretty faces at all so all you can do is practice… good luck with that cuz it doesn’t seem to work ;)_

**@JonaRogueRobinson** _**tweeted** :  
@StanRogueLucas Good thing we’ve got both innit? Talent and beauty :)_

**@WillTheEskimo tweeted:** _  
@JonaRogueRobinson Oh shut up_

_****_

** OH, NOES! LET’S NOT TURN A TWITTER FEUD INTO A FULL ON CAT FIGHT! WE DON’T WANT ANYONE TO END UP WITH A BRUISED (PRETTY) FACE. **

We think that by now, everyone is pretty much aware of the feud going on between our two favorite bands, The Rogue and White Eskimo. And while this petty fight has only been through twitter (although they did comment on each other in this video and in thisone) someone had the amazing/terrible idea of recruiting both bands for the Stop Bullying charity concert that will take place in a week’s time, right here in London at the O2 arena. Ouch. Both Bands, along with Jessie J and Emeli Sande, are the concert’s main event. We wonder if the guys will keep their hurtful comments to themselves or if they will give us a free wet t-shirt fight contest. We have no idea how this rivalry started (yeah, okay they’re both British, hot, and target the same audience, so what?), but a few weeks back we remember fangirling about Niall and Harry fangirling about Zayn and Louis, respectively. So, what happened?

On more exciting news, we are proud to tell you guys White Eskimo’s album, Rocket Feet, was certified platinum 16x, that’s the same number of times Adele’s, _21_ , got! We’re proud Eskimos!

Not to forget…The Rogue’s new album, Kill Your Monsters, is officially the Fastest Selling British Album of All Time! We’re proud Rogues!

Phew. Too much talent! Do you guys have to be this competitive? It’s tiring.

The only ones who apparently have kept themselves out of this feud are The Rogue’s cutie pie and frontman, Liam Payne, hottie Louis Tomlinson and White Eskimo’s very own gorgeous charmer, Harry Styles (we wonder if Hazza’s fangirl crush on Louis has anything to do with it).

Well, only time will tell us how this story ends. Sugarscape out!

** CHECK OUT OUR WHITE ESKIMO GALLERY!  
CHECK OUT OUR THE ROGUE GALLERY!    **

**RELATED ARTICLES:**

  * **ZAYN AND LIAM: ZIAM, THE STROGEST BROMANCE**
  * **NICK: “I PEED IN FRONT OF A GIRL ONCE!”**
  * **LOUIS TOMLINSON SPOTTED WITH TWO GIRLS…AGAIN**
  * **NIALL AND WILL: “THE UGLIEST FIGHT BETWEEN US…”**
  * **DOES HAZZA HAVE A CRUSH ON THE ROGUE’S BOO BEAR? WE THINK SO!**
  * **REASONS WHYWE LOVE HAYDN FROM WHITE ESKIMO**



 

****

**“** Remember guys, you start off with  _Start a Fire,_ yes? Then you all talk to the audience for a couple of minutes, then continue with  _Demons_  and end it with  _Icarus_ , understood?”

 “Yes, sweet Carl, yes!” Louis saluted while the rest nodded. “We’ve been practicing all day!”

 “Alright, you’re on in five minutes, so get in positions! Hurry!” The five boys positioned themselves in each of the five metal plates beneath the main stage. They were going to fly up towards the stage, and if Louis felt sick to his stomach it wasn’t because of that, no way.

 Soon, the five minutes it took for Jessie J to finish her song and say goodbye to the crowd were gone, and The Rogue were sent flying upwards.

 It had been fun, actually.

 Louis went to his designed space, where his keyboard had been set up; he smiled at the roaring crowd who went even wilder at his greetings.

 He heard  Jona’s guitar and got in position, soon, Stan started singing. He didn’t need to play nor sing until the chorus, but he liked to be prepared.

 “ _Here we go, just lose control and let your body give in, to the beat. Of your heart as my hand touches your skin, is this love or, just sexual desire. We’re gonna start a fire_!” The chorus started with Stan’s raw vocals and Louis’ own softer ones as echo. The crowd went crazy.

 Louis still couldn’t believe they knew the lyrics of songs they had written. He shook his head in amazement.

 The songs ended in a crescendo of instruments and voices and the lights went out for a couple of seconds. When they returned, Liam had a microphone.

 “How are you this fine evening, London?” The crowd cheered.

 “Well, good! We’re glad you could all make it. It’s for a great cause, but I’m sure you all know it.” He smiled as a group of girls yelled  _Liam, marry us._

“He will, ladies, he will. But first can you guys tell us why all of us are here?” Louis spoke through his own microphone.

 The crowd yelled, but nothing understandable could be heard.

“To stop bullying!” Stan yelled.

“We don’t hear you guys!” Jona yelled into his microphone.

 The crowd yelled and it was really really loud, but it wasn’t loud  _enough_.

 “Scream it at the top of your lungs, ladies and gentlemen!Yell it with us!” Zayn said.

 This time it was fucking loud.

 “Yes! Now together! STOP BULLYING!”

 “STOP BULLYING!” his bandmates and the crowd yelled, the sound was amazing, Zayn joined in with his drums.

 “STOP BULLYING!”

 “STOP BULLYING!”

 “STOP BULLYING!”

 Louis was ecstatic and happy as the crowd cheered with them.

 While the fans still yelled, Stan started singing their second song _, Demons_.

 “ _When the days are cold, and the cards are fold, and the saints we see, are all made of gold…”_

“When you  _feel my heart, look into my eye. It’s where my demons hide. It’s where my demons hide! Don’t get too close. It’s dark outside, It’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide.”_

When the harmonies from  _Icarus_  started, everyone cheered, even the non-fans. Icarus was probably Louis’ favorite song out of their new album, not only because he had written it from personal experience, but he thought that the whole band had contribituted with something personal, either with lyrics or stories that made it easier for Louis to write the song.

 The song was a bit heavy on a combination of his voice with Stan’s and even a bit of Liam’s.

 It was great, he loved it.

 Either way, their three songs were up, and as much as the fans yelled for an encore and as much as  _they_ wanted an encore, they couldn’t; they were on schedule and Emeli Sande was next.

 They left the stage full of adrenaline and giddiness. Their crowd was yelling at the top of their lungs,  _we sure have left them wanting more_ , thought Louis.

 The five boys stopped at the side of the stage and were engulfed in a group hug. All sweat and smiles, just like they liked it.

  _But_ , as much as Louis liked his boys, he had a ritual he did every time after a concert. Yes, a ritual, shut up. Well, it wasn’t that much of a ritual, but he liked to call it that. This ‘ritual’ consisted of just finding an enclosed dark space where he could sit or lay down while he closed his eyes.

 “Guys, you know, I love you and everthing but I have to—“

 “Your ritual, yes, we know.” The other four boys said in unison.

 “I still think it’s pretty stupid, Lou.” Zayn said.

“Shut up, I don’t say anything about the horrible amount of hair product you put into your hair!” Louis retorted.

 “Yes, you do! Just last week you made our fans trend  _Zayn breathes hairspray_!”

 Louis laughed but didn’t say anything, instead, he went to the dressing rooms in the back to find himself a nice closet.

 He went to the last dressing room, the quietest one. He opened the door, and saw if anyone was there. Nope, no one. Good.

 He closed the door and went to the mildly large closet, he knew it was going to be empty, and It would be big enough for him to sit inside. He stepped inside the dark closet, and sat.

 He closed his eyes and breathed. In and out. In and out. The closet’s only noise was his breathing. In and Out. In and In. Wait what? Louis stopped breathing.

 He listened carefully. In and out. In and out. Oh, bloody hell, who the fuck was breathing!? It sure as hell wasn’t him.

 Great, he was stuck in a closet with a fucking serial killer.

 “Who’s there?” he asked a bit more courageously than he felt. About ten times more courageously than he felt to be precise.

 “Your worst nightmare.” A deep voice said. Louis whimpered.

 “I— I have pepper spray, you know. Let me out and no one gets hurt.”

 A laugh, “N-no don’t I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It’s just- you just came inside and sat in a closet. You didn’t even notice someone else was in here!”

 “Well, apparently I’m not the only one who likes to sit in closets, am I? Why are you here? No, wait, who are you? I can’t see anything in here. I still have my pepper spray so don’t be cheeky!”

 The deep voice giggled…giggled?! Seriously who  _was_  this guy?

 Quickly, the soft bright light of a phone appeared, revealing the face of the mysterious man.

 Or, well, boy, actually.

 He gasped, it was the mate with the penis nose.

 “You’re the mate with the penis nose!”

…

 “I mean- sorry, what—“

 Louis was interrupted by a loud cackle.

 “I’m sorry, it’s just…that’s what people called you on twitter, so I called you that before I knew who you were!”

 Penis boy smirked, “Oh, so now you know my name.”

  
“Well, of course. You’re that singer from White Eskimo, Harry.”

 “That I am! And you’re Louis from The Rogue!”

 “Well, of course you know that! Thanks to your little joke I got into trouble with my management!”

 “What little joke?”

 “In your twitcam, you said I was  _fit.”_

 “Oh. But it wasn’t a joke, I’m sorry.”

 “What do you mean it wasn’t a joke? Then what the hell was it?”

 “Why  _did_  you get into trouble? I mean, it was me who said it…”

 “It got worldwide trend…ugh, anything that has to do with my sexuality is an issue with them fuckers, I can’t—“ Louis gasped. Ok, he wasn’t supposed to say anything that might ruin his career (like his sexuality) to anyone just like that,  _especially_ to his competition. God, what was wrong with Louis?!

 “If they thought it was a joke then why was it an issue at… _oh_. I get it.”

 Silence filled the closet once again.

 “Erm… it wasn’t, it uh, it’s not like that or yes, but—”

 “Hey, Louis, it’s ok, it’s ok. I won’t tell anyone.” Harry said, and for one reason or another, Louis fully believed him.

 Meanwhile, in Harry’s head:  _Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Good. Because he’s fit. And I like him. Good, definitely good. Or not? No, yes, good._

“If it’s any consolation,” Harry added, flipping his hair, but not getting Louis overwhelmed because no, he couldn’t even see him properly, “I got told off by management too. They didn’t like it one bit.”

 “No? Why not? Are they like…oh.  _Oh_. Wait…really? You too?” Louis didn’t expect that either.

 “Yup. Pansexual, actually, though I do admit I’m more on the edge of gay.”

 Louis laughed in surprise.

Silence filled the closet once again.

…

 Oh, my god. In the closet.

 Both boys laughed at the same time.

 “We are hiding in a closet!” they said in unison and even in the deserted hallway, their laughs could be heard.

 They wheezed out their laughs, and it wasn’t until a couple of minutes until both boys breathed.

 “Wait, aren’t you like a ladies’ man?” Louis asked now that he had composed himself.

 “Aren’t  _you_  a ladies’ man?”

 “Ok, yeah, fair enough.”

 “By the way, man, you guys were good. Today. At the concert, I mean.” Louis told Harry.

 The curly haired lad laughed, “Yeah, you too mate. We heard you while you performed. You sure know how to rile up the audience…don’t tell anyone, but I know Icarus by memory.”

 “I wrote Icarus!” grinned Louis, “And yeah, I downloaded your first album, I have it on my iPod. Illegally, but still.”

 Harry laughed, “Icarus is bloody brill, mate! And don’t worry, I downloaded yours illegally too.”

 “Really?! Which one? Kill Your Monsters?”

 “Well, of course! But, really, don’t tell anyone. The only one who knows is Niall and that’s because he has it too.”

 “Oh, my god! Closeted Rogues, eh?”

 “You bet.”

 “We are so lame, let’s stop with the closeted jokes.”

 “Agree.”

 They heard a light buzz coming from Harry’s pants. “I swear that’s my cellphone.”

 Louis giggled as Harry read the text.

 “What is it Curly?” Louis said, earning a smile from Harry even though he couldn’t quite see it.

 “Ugh, they’re looking for me. We’re leaving in five so…”

 Louis tried not to show his disappointment. But why was he even disappointed, it was just Harry from White Eskimo! Although Louis was pretty sure half the female population would hit him because of that thought.

 “Oh, alright, I guess we are leaving soon too. Might as well go.” He stood up and opened the door, letting fresh air and bright light through.

 When the both of them were finally outside in the dressing room, Louis could finally get a look up close at Harry.

 And, woah, no wonder everybody wanted to kiss him. Those lips. Louis was totally writing a song about those lips. And was that hair even real? Louis was totally writing a song about those curls. And could someone please explain to him those goddamn green eyes? The fuck. Louis was totally writing a song about those eyes. Actually, Louis was going to write a whole album and was going to name it  _Harry Styles: are you even real?_ Yeah, he could see it now. Sold like warm bread…or something like that.

 “Louis?” Harry said as he waved his hand in front of Louis’ face.

“You spaced out a bit there, mate.”

 “Oh, sorry, was just thinking about my new album.” Louis replied. How embarrassing.

 Harry gave him an odd look but was still smiling. “Alright. I said,  _Louis_ , can I have your number?”

 “M-my number?”

 “Oh, unless you don’t want to…”

 “Oh, no, yeah, sure! Easy there, Harry, you looked worried there for a minute.” Winked Louis.

Oh, God, was that  _flirting_? Was Louis  _flirting_  with Harry.

 Either way, Harry looked delighted.

 “Well, I was. Here, put your number here.” They traded mobiles. “What do I put my number under?” Harry asked.

 “Eh, just write…My Worst Nightmare with the Penis Nose.”

 Harry snorted, but did as he said, “You’re unbelievable!”

 “Thank you. Now here you go, Styles.” They traded mobiles once again.

 “Well, I guess I’ll see you around, Lou.” Harry smirked and turned around while shooting fake finger guns, trying to be seductive. Of course, being Harry Styles, he got tangled with his own feet and almost tripped.

 Louis, for some reason, didn’t mind.

 The older boy laughed as he went the opposite way, “Goodbye, Harry Styles.”

 And if he swayed his hips just a tiny bit, leaving an idiotically grinning and enamored Harry, you really couldn’t blame him.

 ****

 It wasn’t until later that night, when the five White Eskimo boys were on their tour bus, that Harry got a message.

_From: Fit Lou in the closet_

Harry chuckled and shook his head, not noticing the confused stares he received from his bandmates.

_Hey, there Harry :) you shouldn’t have given me your number im annoying!  
but you never really told me why you were hiding in that closet…_

The green eyed boy smiled and quickly replied.

_I’m assuming you mean the literal one, well, I was just tired._

He hit send and didn’t wait for a reply. Maybe Louis was just trying to be nice? Maybe he wasn’t really interested in Harry in  _that_  way. The buzz indicated otherwise.

_Of what exactly, curly?_

Harry gave a lazy smile.

_Everything…_

Harry didn’t know it, but kilometers away, in a bus that was going just the other way around, Louis smiled knowingly.

_Yeah, I feel like that sometimes._

In mere seconds, he got a second message.

_Hey, check out the twitter trends :p_

Harry quickly did so, there really wasn’t much to do in the tour bus, especially when they were all dozing off.

He laughed out loud, successfully waking up Haydn and a grumpy Will.

The top worldwide trend was  _Harry’s Erotic Nose._

He then searched for Louis’ twitter. It wasn’t that much of a surprise when he saw Louis’ last tweet.

**@LouisRogueTommo tweeted** :  
_@HazzaTheEskimo has a penis shaped nose, but it’s still all good and dandy:) #harryseroticnose_

He favorited, retweeted and followed Louis, a fact that wouldn’t go unnoticed by his fans nor his bandmates, still, he happily did so.  
 

He also replied.

**@HazzaTheEskimo tweeted:**  
_@LouisRogueTommo yes, it’s all good and dandy until you blind nice people with pepper spray, lou ;)_

Harry and Louis were positive Twitter would break.

 ****

**@CarenOfTomlinson tweeted:  
** _Wat is actually happening with this bands, first they hate each othr and now they’re twitting and making jokes with one another?_

**@FelicityLovesEskimos tweeted:** _  
@CarenOfTomlinson i’m pretty sure harry and that other boy, louis, have never fought before. Apparently they’re friends :D_

**@ZaynMarryMe tweeted:** _  
YES, LARRY LIVES ON! I TOLD YOU GUYS._

**@niallerisyummy tweeted:** _  
my cupcake has finally found a boyfriend! #happy #larry_

**@taysheartwillgoon tweeted:  
** _omg y did you guise trend larry?! U kno what louis thinks about ppl sayin he’s gay. Ur horrible. And who the hell’s harry either way_

**@haydnchachachajoey tweeted:** _  
I think larry’s cute, but I think some people think they’re an actual couple? What’s wrong with you guys? You cant just change someone’s sexuality like that? They’re friends, but that’s it. Besides, don’t they barely know each other?_

**@melissarogueeskimo tweeted:** _  
@LiamRoguePayne @JonaRogueRobinson @ZaynRogueMalik @StanRogueLucas  what do you guys think about Harry? Do u like him too? are you guys all friends now?_

**@LiamRoguePayne tweeted:** _  
@melissarogueeskimo I’ve never met harry. I don’t think zayn, jona and stan have either :S_

**@deansdemonisnick tweeted:** _  
oh my god guys, did u see liam’s tweet? The only ones who have met are lou and harry! #secretrelationship_

**@inlovewithgrimmy tweeted:** _  
LOOK A T THIS POST ON TUMBLR_ _[www.tumblr.post163732893](http://www.tumblr.post163732893/) _ _it basically explains how harry and louis have dated each other since long ago, that’s why harry mentioned lou on his twitcam and why they never fought via twitter!_

**@jonaismytruelove tweeted:** _  
@inlovewithgrimmy that actually makes SO MUCH SENSE READ IT PPL!! THEY’VE BEEN IN A SECRET RELATIONSHIP ALL THIS TIME! #larry #actualcouple_

_****_

“Wait, so now you’re friends with Styles?…How did that even happen?” Zayn asked as he munched on the cheese puffs he was sharing with Louis as they lazily sprawled on their tour bus sofa.

“I told you, we were in the same closet the night of the Stop Bullying concert.” Louis rolled his eyes.

“…when you say closet, you mean a…”

“Yes, an actual closet, Z.” Louis replied. His eyeballs hurt too much to roll them again, but if he could’ve do it again, he would’ve. The perks of touring with Zayn.

“Oh. But you guys are friends now…do you think management will like it or not?”

“I don’t know, they seem to want to keep this stupid feud between us a bit longer, but I don’t really care, to be honest. I like Harry.”

“You like Harry? As in like  _like_  him?”

“Erm…I still don’t know, but have you  _seen_  him? He was fucking chiseled by Michelangelo!”

“What? You know who was fucking chiseled by Michelangelo? Me. And I’ve never heard you talk about me like that…but, Lou, are you sure? Is he even…gay?”

“He used the term  _pansexual_ , but, basically yes, he might like me!” Louis grinned.

“Oh, boy, you  _do_  like him…Louis, I just hope you know what this means, I mean, you like Harry from White Eskimo!”

“Who doesn’t? And he even tweeted me a winky face! That must mean something, right?”

“Oh, my god, Lou…this just means trouble. Trouble, I say!” Zayn whimpered.

“I know Zayn, but…even if he did like me back, that doesn’t mean anything’s going to come out of it. It’s practically impossible.” Louis sighed as he deflated and slided down the sofa.

“What’s that sound?…ooh, you got a message!” Zayn said as he grabbed Louis’ phone from the coffee table next to him. 

“Give it!” Louis threw himself at Zayn, trying to get a hold of his phone knowing who had texted him. Unfortunately, Zayn was too fast, or really, Louis was too slow (damn, he needed to hit the gym. The Tomlintummy, as his fans had embarrassingly named his tummy, was slowly making a comeback).

“Who is it from? Why won’t you let me read it?!”

“Zayn, don’t!”

“Who the hell is  _Your Worst Nightmare_ …oh, my god, are you into all that S&M stuff?”

“Don’t be an ass, it’s just Harry, long story, now give it!”

“It says… _Hey Fit Louis_ …Fit Louis, yeah right _…I heard that you were flying to LA in three days, I’m in San Francisco for the next couple days…wanna meet up?_ And then there’s a smiley face.” He whistled. “Judging by this text,  _Fit Louis_ , Harry Styles might just like you back. How lucky!”

“Lucky? Pfft,  _he_  should be the one considered lucky, he’s the one going on a date with _Heartbreaker Louis Tomlinson_.”

Zayn smirked, “Oh, so now it’s a date?”

“W-what? It’s a meet up. Just a meet up!”

“Alright, alright.” Zayn surrendered as he put his hands in the air, mobile still in hand.

“Now, give me my phone, Zaynikins.”

“No way!” Zayn yelled as he ran to bathroom, where he locked himself before Louis could get the phone from him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m doing you a favor!”

God, the things Zayn considered a favor to Louis never ended up nicely. One time he had gotten rid of all the sweets of their flat, and it only resulted in the both of them going through a candy withdrawal; they were grumpy until Liam had bought hot cocoa.

Zayn exited the bathroom with a grin on his face and handed the phone to Louis. He looked down to his last message.

_Hiya harry ;) and yes! I would looove to go on a date with youuu ;) x  
by the way, I think ur curls r sexyyyy ;)xxxxxxxxxxxx_

Oh. My. God.

“I’m going to kill you Malik.  _Three_  winky faces?! THREE?! Oh, fuck, he won’t like me anymore. He’ll think I’m needy. Maybe it wasn’t even a date! I’ll be right back, I’ll just go and drink some BLEACH!” Louis lamented.

“You got a text, mate.”

“What?”

“You just got a text, I reckon its him, check.”

_Hahah, wha’ts got into you? xD I think you’re funny Louis, I like you :)  
so, that’s a yes? Cool, be ready for our date then x_

“What does it say? Tell me!”

“We’re worse than secondary school girls, seriously.”

“Lou-eh!”

Louis grinned, “I have a date with Harry Styles.”

**** 

“Guys, really, it’s an honor having you here. We’ve been having requests all month about doing and interview with you.” A ginger girl smiled as she sat on the opposite side of the table where the five White Eskimo boys.

“No, it’s a pleasure for us, really. LA has always been a favorite place of ours” Harry, always the charmer, said.

The girl preened.

“Now, boys we’ve got some questions for you, are you ready to answer them?”

“Of course.

“Bring it on.”

“Alright, alright! Ok, what would you say you look for in a girl?”

“Um, I think just a girl who has a nice personality. Or that has nice eyes.” Niall laughed.

Haydn continued, “Yes, a girl who knows how to be the life of the party I guess for me.”

“Harry?” If the ginger girl battered her eyebrows Harry didn’t notice, really.

“Erm, someone who has a nice smile, someone who’s nice and funny.”

Niall snickered quietly as Will kicked his shin.

“Good. Nice rack, or nice bottom?”

“What?!” Harry sputtered while the rest of the lads laughed.

“Rack, totally” Will replied.

“Can I have both?” Nick cheekily said.

Niall added, “Yeah, me too!”

“…I’ll go with rack.” Haydn muttered.

“And you Harry?” the now annoying girl asked.

“Yeeaah, and you Harry?” Haydn smirked.

“…erm, why are you asking this? Oh, my god…”

“Just answer it, Haz!”

“Ugh, bum I guess.”

The girl deflated while the rest cackled loudly.

“Alright, next question…what is your favorite song from Rocket Feet? Niall?”

“ _Ain’t no rest for the wicked_ , definitely, definitely.”

“Oh, yes, I love that song too! How about you, Haydn? Will?”

“I’d say  _Fire_!” Will enthusiastically said while Nick seconded him.

“I personally like  _Firework_ s or  _The Neverending Why_.” Harry jumped in.

“And I like  _Ever Fallen in Love_.” Smiled Haydn.

Harry jumped. “Oh, yeah, I love that one too! All of them, really.”

“That’s your…second single, isn’t it? I love the first one! Who wrote the first one?”

“Soul Wars? Nick and Niall wrote that one, our little gem.” Haydn laughed.

“It’s a real fun song to perform, and it was fun writing it too.”

The interviewer smiled, “Yes, it’s quite catchy! Does Niall and Nick write all the songs or…?”

“Oh, no, everyone wrote or co-wrote at least two songs, I think, from the album. I think the ones who wrote the most are Will and Harry.”

“Yeah, they’re geniuses when put together!” grinned Niall and gave Harry a nudge.

“They wrote  _Ever Fallen in Love_  in like two days, really amazing.”

“Oh, shut it, guys…” blushed Harry.

“Now, on another topic! What’s up with you guys and The Rogue? I’ve heard you guys don’t like each other very much, but then I heard you’re actually friends…can you tell us what’s going on?”

They sighed inwardly.

“Erm, I think it’s we just have artistic differences, and I guess we’ve just been very vocal about it…” Niall sweatdropped.

“Via twitter?”

“…yes, via twitter.”

“What about you Harry? Someone mentioned earlier that you’re friends with Louis Tomlinson, is that true or just rumors?”

“Um, like Niall said right now, what’s happening between us are just artistic differences and, at least for me, it doesn’t affect me personally. I met Louis a couple of weeks ago, he’s an amazing lad and yeah we got on really well…I guess it just sort of happened. He’s brill.”

Will rolled his eyes. He hadn’t taken it very well that Harry was fraternizing with the enemy, but Harry had just shushed him with a wave of dismissal. Haydn and Nick had only told him to be careful; careful of what, he didn’t know, they were just being ridiculous. Niall had taken it much better, but it wasn’t all that good when he started bothering him about finally talking to his  _crush_.

_Crush_.

Please, Harry didn’t have a crush. People had crushes on him, not the other way around.

“Oh, cool! Do the rest of you guys talk to them too?”

“Not really, it’s just Harry.” Will glared at Harry.

“Ok, I’m afraid we’ve only got time for one last question. I sure you get this a lot, but…who is single and who is currently dating someone?”

“Me, Niall, and Haydn are single and Will and Nick are dating.”

“Will and Nick are dating? Each other?” the interviewer joked and, yeah, the boys laughed at that…except for Nick who made gagging noises and blessed himself earning a thump from Will.

“I’m kidding! One of you is dating Lana del Rey, aren’t you? Who is it?”

“Yeah, that would be me, ‘am dating Lizzy.” Nick raised his arm and smiled slowly.

“Oh, that’s really cute! How about you Will?”

“I’m dating Annie…she’s a uni student, we met on primary school.” grinned Will and blushed a bit.

“Wow, that is really sweet! So…Will and Nick are dating, and then we’ve got the available men, Niall, Haydn and Harry. Are you guys looking or are you just enjoying life right now?”

“I’m definitely just enjoying life right now. All my love right now is for the fans!” Niall laughed.

Haydn added, “Yeah, I’m not looking as of right now, I’m trying to focus on this fantastic dream we’re living. Although, if the opportunity arises, I sure won’t turn it down.”

“Yes, single pringles we are! Nah, our fans are our true love right now!”

“Weren’t you dating Cher Lloyd?”

“What? No, no. We’re just friends, amazing girl, but we’re just good friends.” Harry frowned.

“I think that’s it for today guys, this has been really lovely. You guys are talented and so humble, we’re really proud of you guys. Good luck on your concert today.”

“Thank you so much. We appreciate it, and we’re really looking forward the concert, San Francisco fans are always so sweet!”

“Yes! Thank you guys again, goodbye!”

 ****

“So…I thought they called you Charmer Styles, but I honestly can’t see it Harry. Who has their first date on a  _cheese festival_?”

“Hey, everyone loves cheese! Besides, I didn’t want to take you to an elegant restaurant or something equally cliché,  _please_ , I’m not that cheesy.”

“Oh, my god, you did  _not_  just say that. Who would’ve thought, Harry Styles, major geek. That’s it, goodbye, I’m off to elope with someone who doesn’t make awful puns…Justin Bieber doesn’t sound so bad right now.”

“What? My puns are what attract the ladies! You’re a difficult one Tomlinson.” Harry laughed as they walked along the various stands of different cheese. As crazy as it sounded, Harry actually took Louis to the Cheese Festival, a fact he was rather proud of.

Louis, along with the rest of The Rogue, had arrived at LA that same morning, seeing as they had three shows that week right there in California. While the rest of the lads had stayed at the hotel, trying to shake off the jet lag, Louis had met up with Harry at 5 in their lobby so they could drive to their mysterious destination. Which now he knew happened to be the Pasadena Cheese Festival.

“Besides, I  _did_  drive six hours from San Francisco to come see you. I deserve a reward!”

“Here, have an  _extra-aged apenzeller_  cheese cube.” Louis said, throwing the small cheese at Harry, who miraculously caught it with his tongue. Louis shuddered.

“This is ridiculous.” Louis laughed and shook his head. And it was, it really was. Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, both worldwide famous musicians, walking along the closed streets of Pasadena, California, eating cheese cubes. Extra-aged apenzeller cheese cubes, mind you.

“Don’t act as if you’re not enjoying yourself. You love me and all this cheese!” Harry guided them towards a small bench a bit secluded from the main area where the stands where located.

Harry sat what was probably deemed too close to Louis, their thighs warmly pressed against each other, but he couldn’t care less. “You know what? Nobody has recognized us or asked for an autograph. So cool, don’t you think?”

“Harry, of course they don’t recognize us! The only people here are grandpas and mums! And us, of course, just two young men who know about the delicacies of fine cheese.”

Harry chuckled looking at his lap, a wide but shy smile adorned his face and he slowly moved his hand towards where Louis’ was. Harry liked to think himself as a ninja, all cautious and unnoticeable. However, Louis didn’t miss this movement.

“It’s still nice, though. To be able to walk down a street without paps following you or people yelling your name from across the street.”

“Yeah, it is.” Louis replied softly, almost as if it were a secret. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love what I do…I’m practically living my dream, but…yeah, sometimes I miss being…normal, I guess.”

Louis had never felt so comfortable with someone who he had only met twice in his life like he felt with Harry. Sure, Louis was overly friendly with people all the time, he had always been popular and he gave this vibe of trustworthiness, however, it was rare when the feeling was mutual. And with Harry, or well, at least Louis hoped so, it was mutual.

“Why did you become a musician, Hazhead?”

Harry grinned at the nickname, “I don’t know really. I mean I’ve always like music. Then, when we were twelve, me and the boys got this idea of forming a band. We didn’t even know how to play any instruments…I still don’t, but yeah.” He chuckled reminiscing his younger years with his best friends. “When I was about fourteen we started and all…we sucked big time, but I guess we got better? We posted videos on youtube and people liked them and when they told me so, I just felt…happy. This amazing feeling I got to know that people actually liked what we were creating. And the lads, they’re bloody amazing, wouldn’t change them for a thing.”

“Yeah… I don’t- I don’t see myself being in this position without them, especially Zayn and Liam, they’re my…my best mates since we were like in primary. If one of them left the band for whatever cause, I’d leave with them, really.”

“That’s amazing.”  _You’re amazing, Louis, can I kiss you?_

“Thanks. Tell me about…your family!” Louis asked, now practically his side aligned perfectly with Harry’s, although they didn’t notice, too engrossed with each other.

“My family? Well, I have my mum. I love her to death, she’s everything to me. And, well, my dad and her got divorced a few years back, I was seven.  Now she’s dating Robin, he’s cool, I get on really well with him. And my sister. Oh, god, my annoying sister Gemma, she’s a bit older than me. Maybe around your age. How old are you anyway, you’re not like 30 or anything, are you?”

“Do I look 30 to you?!”

Harry smirked while Louis died a little, “Well, you certainly don’t, but hey, you could be a hot 30 year old.”

“Oh yeah, I heard that you’re into older women!”

“Oh, don’t mention it. Poor Caroline got bashed because of that stupid publicity stunt, I felt awful.” Groaned Harry.

“Yeah, knew it. By the way, I turned 21 this December.”

“Alright, so you’re not a paedophile, good. How about you? Got any family?”

“Like, hell I do. Well, there’s my dad, but he’s an ass. He and my mom separated before I could even talk properly, but I’ve got my step dad, Mark. I got my last name from him. God forbid, if I had kept my dad’s last name, I would’ve been, Louis Austin! That totally sounds like the name of a porn star. A porn star, Harry!”

Harry spluttered, “Oh, God! But, hey, if I had changed  _my_  last name to Robin’s, I would’ve been Harry Twist!”

“…Louis Austin and Harry Twist, porn stars extraordinaire! Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

Harry laughed loudly and quickly covered his mouth with both hands, and Louis was suddenly giddy with a mix of smug, because, wow Harry’s laugh was so cute and he was the one who caused it. For some reason, he wanted to make him laugh like that until forever.

“You’re unbelievable, Lou.” Harry smiled his mega watt smile, but it wasn’t the one he saved for the cameras or photo shoots, this one was even bigger, brighter, more genuine. “Any sisters then? Brothers?”

“Yup! Five sisters!”

“Five?!”

“Well, half sisters, but yes. There’s Georgia she’s 13. She lives with my dad, so I don’t really know her much. And then there’s Lottie, she’s a right trouble maker that one. She just got her first boyfriend, can you believe that? Bloody hell, I might need to start preparing my intimidating speech soon. Then Fizzy, who’s shy and so not like Lottie, good thing. And then the twins, Daisy and Phoebe who loud and hyperactive. Love them to bits. Those girls and my mum are the most precious thing to me, I love them.”

Harry watched in awe as Louis spoke, his eyes were wide and bright and his smile was so fond. Something between Harry’s legs twitched, and he should’ve felt bad, because, damn it, Louis was talking about his younger sisters, but right now he had more pressing matters. Like crossing his legs.

“You would’ve thought that with all these cheese we’ve eaten I wouldn’t get hungry. But…can we go check out the cheese with chocolate stand? That looked absolutely delicious.”

“Better watch that figure, Tomlinson. You need to keep those chiseled abs for the fans.” Harry smirked.

“Oh, god, you jerk. But, yes, you’re right…two days ago TumlinTummy was trending. I need to hit the gym, asap.” Louis lamented while rubbing his tummy.

“Woah, woah, Lou! I was kidding! Your tummy’s kinda…”  _hot. “_ …cute.”

“Cute? Oh, shit, what am I? A panda? I’m a cute fat panda, cheers, mate. Here, throw the cheese cubes away, I don’t want them anymore.”

More like a bloody hot, sexy panda Harry wanted to fuck.

Oh, where did  _that_  come from?

“I was going to say hot, actually. Your tummy’s hot, Louis. If the fans don’t like it and they stop being your fans because of it, then they’re not really your fans…that’s what I say.”

“Oh, you only say that because you have abs. And I saw a whole post on tumblr dedicated to your abs _. A whole post.”_

“Oh, so you were stalking me via tumblr?”

“No, I don’t. It was an accident. Leave me alone, Styles.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I googled you. There’s tons of Louis Tomlinson photo galleries, by the way. Like, a lot.”

“Look at us, Harry. Googling each other and stalking tumblr tags.”

“Well, there’s no need is there?” Harry whispered inching his face closer and closer to Louis’. They were so close Harry could smell Louis’ breath: a combination of mint, tea, and…cheese? Harry cracked a smile, but still inching closer. He could see Louis with his mouth open, completely eyeing his lips. Harry was about to go for it, ignoring that they were in a public area when suddenly, Louis pulled away.

“How about we do go get some of that cheese chocolate stuff we saw earlier?” Louis stood up, not looking at Harry and fixing his t-shirt.

Harry was still a bit breathless, not to mention flushed.

“S-sure, alright, let’s go.”

“On one condition, Hazza.”

Harry laughed, “I thought it was you that wanted to go, why are you putting conditions?”

“For every cheese cube I eat, you must eat two!” Louis ignored Harry.

They started making their way towards the stands, hands brushing more often than not, but neither complained.

“Because you already have abs! It’ll make me feel less bad if you eat more than I do. That way, if I get fat, Harry Styles will also get fat.”

“And we’ll both be fat.”

“Exactly!”

“Sounds like a plan.”

An hour later, and after much cheese eating and mindless wandering both boys decided to call it a night. Harry still had to drive Louis off to his hotel in LA; that was a forty five minute drive. Plus the five hours he had to drive back to San Francisco.

It was a good sign when Harry parked in front of Louis’ hotel and there were no paparazzi in sight. They both got out of the car, hands in the pocket of their jeans.

“Don’t you rather room in with me and the guys? It’ll be easier Harry. It’s not safe driving this late at night for five hours.”

“I know, but if I leave right now I’ll get to San by one, so I’ll get some sleep before our trip to Dallas.”

“At what time do you leave?”

“’bout nine in the morning…”

“Oh. Well, I guess you better go. But…we should do it again some time. Soon.”

“What, going to cheese festivals?” Harry laughed.

“Ugh, you’re way too cheeky for your own good.”

“But you like it.”

“Maybe. That’s why I said we should do it again some time. Go out, I mean. Not the fucking cheese, jesus.”

“Yeah, we definitely should, Lou.”

“I know our schedules are sort of crazy and what not, but we’ll keep texting and see if we can arrange something, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, just go back to your car, Harry. I can go alone back to the hotel.” Laughed Louis and then, with a more wistful tone said, “Besides, we don’t want to raise suspicions…”

Harry hated having to be on the closet, but he hated it even more knowing Louis had to hide too and they couldn’t even have a proper relationship like anyone else. They couldn’t even  _try_  having one. They didn’t deserve it,  _Louis_  didn’t deserve it. He sighed.

“Yes. I’ll see you around. I’ll text you when I get back. Goodnight Louis.” He then stepped forward, hesitated a bit, but quickly kissed Louis’ cheek, leaving both, Louis’ cheek and his own lips, hot from the touch.

“Dream of me, Harry!” Louis waved as Harry started his car.

_I will_ , thought Harry, _I definitely will_.

And just like that, Harry, who started his five hour drive to San Francisco listening to Black Sabbath on his radio, and Louis, who went back to his five star hotel to his bandmates who, yeah, were going to ask annoying questions, that night they dreamt with each other.

With their heart full of love and hope, and their stomachs full of cheese.

 ****

**@JoeSuperStar18 tweeted:  
** _Guys!!! Have you seen this picture?????? It looks like our hazza and louis from the rogue!! Is it them??? pic.twitter.com/p546tULg  wat do you think? #larry_

**@MillyandNiall tweeted:**  
_I don’t reckon that’s them, louis seems too tall next to harry. I thought there was a bigger height difference but who knows…_

**@ShesaRogue tweeted:**  
Guys, I don’t think those were harry and boo…idk what would they be doing in Pasadena at a CHEESE FESTIVAL?? Especially since harry was leaving the next day to texas, I don’t think he had time for that

**@ATinyPieceofHaydn tweeted:**    
The girl that took the picture said those were Lou and Harry! She saw them and said they were getting cozy. Besides it does make sense, both were near Pasadena that night, they could’ve easily took a trip there

**@hopingforthebest tweeted:**  
_it so NOT louis and that hideous harry styles, u guys should stop maing things up like that bitch who said she saw dem. If she saw them y didn she take a pic with dem instead. #LIES stop with the larry_

**@RanitaWithZayn tweeted:**  
_There’s Larry shippers who think they’re together for real? Grow up and stop fantasizing. It’s called a bromance._

**@EcoLikeAManiac tweeted:**  
_@RanitaWithZayn There’s Larry shippers who think it’s a bromance? The proof is right there!!!_

**@sunfl0werandra1n tweeted:**  
_hmm, while I do think that picture is lou and harry, I don’t think they’re actually dating. I believe it was just a friendly date between mates c’mon_

**@sheerionrogueforever tweeted:**  
_besides we all know harry has the hots for older womeeen, duhhh_

**@HoranTheEskimo tweeted:**  
_woke up in the middle of the night…don’t kno, hungry…_

**@HoranTheEskimo retweeted:**  
_“@lauralarry:@HoranTheEskimo how about some cheese ;)_ ” yes, some…cheese…

**@Carlytheeskimo tweeted:**  
_omg can we confirm the larry cheese festival date now? niall ships it_

**@heytherenick tweeted:  
** _stop twisting everything, just because someone happens to mention cheese doesn’t mean louis nad harry are fucking_

**@LiamShallBeMine tweeted:**  
_@heytherenick People are blind…it’s right in front of you! #DENIAL_

 ****

Louis really liked Harry, like, a lot.

He had never, at least not since The Rogue had gained national attention, had a normal relationship. Of course, as a sort of superstar, he had had lots of hook-ups; the hook-ups were scarce and limited, he couldn’t really risk some seedy guy outing him to the press or something, so he’d always been careful with whom he took home. Hook-ups and one-night stands were one thing, but relationships were something entirely different, something that never even crossed his mind. His management couldn’t really control his relationships, they couldn’t, but they had explicitly told him that they couldn’t risk outing him.

So he never looked for a relationship, he’d never looked for a boy. Except that the boy came to him. Or, well not exactly, per se, they sort of had met in a closet—something that he still found utterly hilarious. But still, Louis really, really liked Harry.

And of course, because Louis was such an unlucky bastard, the boy he had fallen in love with was the singer of their rival band, a boy who was also constantly followed by cameras and stalked by fans, a boy who also needed to stay in the closet.

Sometimes his life really sucked.

And Louis knew all that, he knew it better than anyone else, but still, he had managed to fall in love with him, a bit too quickly for his taste, but he had still fallen. And he really wouldn’t pick anyone else if he had the chance.

So that was probably the reason that, instead of going back to London when their last West Coast concert was cancelled, he decided to stay a few days and fly to Dallas, Texas. Dallas, where White Eskimo was still performing.

He had been a bit nervous about going, thinking Harry might find him too clingy so he had asked Zayn and Liam, and while Zayn hadn’t been much help ( _obviously, you have to go! Have you shagged by the way? Go and shag, then you might get less moody_ ), Liam had decided to come along while the rest of the lads flew to London that same day ( _that way I’ll check on you so you don’t embarrass yourself. Oh, geez, thank you, Liam_ ). He needed new friends.

So there was Louis, in the VIP area for a White Eskimo concert, he thought he’d never see the day. Liam, surprisingly, was there too, he was a bit nervous, but Louis, after all, really did appreciate Liam’s efforts.

When they were making their way towards their seats, a lot of people had recognized them; some had only gaped with wide eyes, others did give them some rude glares, but most had wanted their picture taken with them. There was no doubt this was going to be news all over the media and fans, but then, what wasn’t?

Harry, of course, (contrary to Louis’ belief) had been delighted that Louis had come visit him, in fact, it had been Harry who had suggested Louis and Liam went to their last Dallas concert. Louis could refuse.

The lights of the arena dimmed and, as good as their openers were, Louis just wanted White Eskimo to appear. Well, just Harry, actually, but it  _was_  a White Eskimo concert.

Strums of guitar echoed throughout the arena and the fans’ screaming was deafening, even Louis and Liam flinched at the sound.

The blonde guitarist, Niall, if he recalled correctly Harry telling him in one of their Skype conversations, was the first one to come out and greet the audience as he stilled strummed his electric.

“How’s Dallas tonight?”

The fans yelled and cried,

Niall laughed, “Amazing. Why don’t you make even more noise so Nick, Haydn, Will and Harry come out with us, yeah?”

Louis was sure he was going to lose his hearing.

And out of nowhere, it didn’t really matter because Harry came bouncing onto stage with the rest of his bandmates; he had a giant grin on his face and Louis knew it was the adrenaline of performing for so many people, he always felt the same way no matter how many arenas he played, you never got used to it.

Niall was still strumming his guitar with the same melody, when Harry’s voice, loud and full of energy, was heard throughout the arena.

“ _I was walking down the street_  
When out the corner of my eye,   
I saw a pretty little thing approaching me.  
She said I never seen a man,   
Who looks so all alone,   
Oh, could you use a little company?”

Louis knew the song, it was always on the radio so he pretty much knew the lyrics, especially since he had met Harry. Louis melted with the song, and if anyone asked he could just blame it on instruments or the melody not Harry’s voice. He ignored Liam’s side glance.

They continued with a slower song, which meant a slower and seductive Harry, which meant a slow death for Louis. They continued singing song after song, after Soul Wars was performed, they talked with their fans for a while, and Louis and even Liam could admit that they were enjoying the songs.

“You guys, blow our mind every single day. Every single day, guys.” Will said through his microphone.

Harry then added, “True. Remember how it all started? With a Youtube video. A shitty cover and an even shittier camera. But, we’ve made it, and it’s all thanks to you. We want to thank you, and, we’ve got a song for you. We don’t usually perform this anymore, but we got able to squeeze it into the show tonight. The song that started it all, a great song, so don’t blame us for the not-so-great cover. This is  _Mr. Brightside_!” 

The crowd went crazy, just like they did for everything else, but Louis had a hunch that this was a big deal, so he clapped and whistled along.

The cover was actually amazing, no wonder people had liked them too back then, the band continued with two more covers until Louis heard the drums and guitar in a familiar beat. Louis smiled, It was his favorite song out of their album, he knew Harry had written it and Harry knew Louis liked it.

So it was no surprise that Harry had looked in his direction a lot as he performed the song. Liam also noticed and he laughed along with Harry as Louis turned red. Good thing the place was very dark so no one would notice.

“ _You stir up spur my natural emotions_  
Make me feel like dirt (I’m hurt)  
And if I start a commotion  
I run the risk of losing you   
What is worse.”

Harry looked directly into his eyes.

“ _Ever fallen in love with someone_ __  
Ever fallen in love, in love with someone  
Ever fallen in, in love with someone you shouldn’t have fallen in love with.”

Oh, my god. Louis was going to faint, and Liam wasn’t really helping much, the stupid boy was laughing loudly and bobbing his head to the music.

The song soon finished to Louis’ relief and mild disappointment. But then Harry, the ever-so .stupid boy—

“Guys, just so you know, we’ve got two special guests tonight!”

Oh, no.

Harry pointed at his direction.

“Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, from The Rogue are right here, right now!”

Fuck. The arena, which had been loud all night long, went even louder than any moment before. It was simply crazy. Liam smiled and waved s bit sheepishly, while Louis closed his eyes and laughed.

“Shit,” he muttered, “Shit, shit, shit.” But in that moment, Louis couldn’t care less, so he relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the songs.

After the show was over, one of the security guards got hold of Louis and Liam and told them Harry had said to bring them backstage after the show. Louis smiled stupidly.

“Lead the way.”

They got closer to some dressing rooms, where they heard laughing and loud voices, no doubt White Eskimo celebrating their show. The security guard pointed at the second to the last dressing room and promptly left. Liam and Louis looked at each other doubtfully, but Louis shrugged, “C’mon, Liam, I’m sure they don’t bite…”  _I think_.

Louis peeked his head in and Nick was the first to see him, he smiled, to which Louis felt relieved. After all, he had never met Harry’s bandmates properly. Nick poked Harry and pointed at Louis and Liam.

Harry turned around and his green eyes looked directly to Louis’ own blue ones, both of their faces had a huge grin.

“Hey, Louis! That was so much!” Harry walked towards him, and grabbed his hand. “Hey, there Liam,” He smiled at Louis’ best friend even thought they hadn’t been introduced either.

“Hi.” Liam smiled back.

“Um, Louis can I talk to you outside for a second?” Harry asked, and Louis quirked his eyebrows. He then glanced at Liam, who was looking at him with a scared look on his face. He didn’t want to be left alone with the rest White Eskimo.

“Sure, Harry.” Sorry, he mouthed to Liam who frowned and turned to look at the other four boys.

“C’mon.” Harry tugged his arm and they quickly left the room, closing the door.

Harry ran to the end of the now empty corridor, still tugging at Louis and making him laugh.

“Easy there, Curly!”

“So…”

“So what?”

“So, did you enjoy our show?” Harry smirked, knowing the answer. Cheeky lad.

Louis was tempted to say no, just to spite him, but he couldn’t, not when Harry, even with smirk in face, looked so hopeful.

“I did, actually. You guys are really good.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned while whispering.

“Well,  _it’s the truth_ , no need to deny it.”

“No, I mean, for coming to see me. I missed you, even though it’s been, like, a week since we last saw each other.”

“A week too long if you ask me.”

Harry smittenly smiled as he stepped closer to Louis, closing the already small gap between them even more. Harry was still holding onto Louis’ hand.

“…although, I came to see  _White Eskimo_ , Harry, not just  _you_. Don’t be so conceited. It’s not attractive.”  _Except in you it is_.

“Shut up, Louis.”

Louis frowned in mock indignation, “Hey, listen, Styles, I’m still older than you, so better—“

Harry leaned in and touched Louis’ lips with his own.

It took a second for Louis to realize what was happening, but he immediately kissed back.

Harry’s lips had been everything Louis had expected: soft, plump, and he tasted of sweat, adrenaline, and  _fucking fruit_. Louis loved every second his lips touched Harry’s. Their noses bumped softly, their tongues collided beautifully, and Louis’ heartbeat (and he was almost sure he felt Harry’s too as he had one hand in the younger boy’s chest) increased with every stroke.

His other hand was tangled in Harry’s curls, while the other boy’s hands were cupping Louis’ cheeks. After a couple of minutes Harry finally pulled out, but their foreheads were still pressing against each other, and their ragged breaths were still mixing together.

“I…wanted to ask you, Lou…”

“Mhm?” Louis was still breathless, but his eyes never left green ones, and green ones never left Louis’.

“Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” Harry blushed as he whispered the words into Louis’ mouth.

Louis was sure to faint. Or cry. Or ravish Harry in that moment.

“Yeah.” He slowly smiled. “Yeah… I would like that, I would like that.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, good.”

“Ok, let’s…let’s kiss again.”

“Let’s kiss again.”

**** 

Liam had absolutely no idea who was the fucking idiot who had said that they should be in an interview together. White Eskimo and The Rogue. With Alan Carr. He didn’t who know, but whoever it was, he/she was a moron.

After the concert in Dallas, Liam was sure their management was going to kill Louis and him. For what? He didn’t know, he just was sure Lisa would eat them alive. But, to everyone’s surprise, Lisa was…excited? She had said that Louis and Harry’s friendship (and to some degree Liam, since he had actually gotten quite along with Niall) had gotten them even more fans and more sales than the feud between the bands.

That hadn’t been so bad. Not until someone had requested both bands for The Alan Carr show.

It wasn’t true that the two bands hated each other, but even Liam had to admit that with them being rival bands, they sure weren’t too fond of each other. The interview was sure to be awkward, especially after all the tweets his bandmates and White Eskimo had tweeted.

As for Harry and Louis? Liam sighed.

He had been really happy for his friend, really…if anyone deserved love it was Louis, Liam couldn’t disagree. Either way, after congratulating Louis on his new relationship with White Eskimo’s singer, he had also warned him that management would start writing more and more articles and rumors about Louis goofing around with girls, and he was sure Harry’s would too.

Of course he hadn’t expected Louis’ reply, “Don’t be silly, Liam, we’re  _no_ t going to tell freaking management, and Harry won’t either. This stays with the band, alright?”

Liam had gaped and proceeded to the Louis all the million things that could go wrong if Louis didn’t tell Lisa, or Richard, or useless Roger. Hell, even telling Marco would be better. Louis had only smiled sadly while shaking his head.

As expected, Lisa had asked Louis in their last meeting if there was indeed something going on between Louis and Harry. He had denied everything, and neither Liam, nor their three other bandmates whom also knew about Harry, had said anything. Lisa only left out a breath of relief and had said, “Good, I was getting kinda worried there. So we might want to publicize your friendship with him more, I’m sure that’s not a problem. Of course, to keep rumors being rumors, we might also get the odd article with you and some famous model going. The usual, Tomlinson.”

Louis had only grumbled but nodded in response.

Liam was sure Harry had done something similar.

Still, he was worried, because there was no way in hell that Louis and Harry could be in a national live interview together without showing there was at least some kind of attraction going on. Not while they were still in the honeymoon phase at least.

He groaned inwardly.

“You okay over there, Liam buddy?” Or maybe it had been more outwardly than he first thought.

“Uh, sure, sorry. Bit sleepy that’s all.”

“Oh? Up all night, I guess? Hm, congratulate that beautiful dancer you’re going out with for me, please.” Alan laughed his obnoxiously loud laugh.

“Now, as I was saying! Zayn, what did Perrie think about you being sent underwear through mail? Was she jealous?”

Zayn laughed, it was a real laugh, “Erm, I don’t know, she didn’t say anything, though.”

“Oh, no, Zayn that’s bad, when a woman doesn’t talk is because she’s mad!” Alan replied.

“Yeah, mate, she _is_  mad.” Laughed Louis.

“Well, she can get boxers from her male fans, I don’t mind.”

“Ooh, I bet she’s going to hold you to that. I hope you’re watching Perrie!”

“How about you, Nick? Does Lana get mad?”

Nick laughed from the other side of Alan, where the five lads from White Eskimo were sitting in a sofa opposite of The Rogue.

“Um, no? I mean, I think she gets sent more bras than I do? I don’t think she minds that, if I’m honest.”

“Alright, now onto you Harry. Is it true that you have your eyes set on Jennifer Aniston, is that true?”

Louis coughed.

“Are you alright Louis?” Alan asked.

“Peachy, do continue, though, we all want to hear Harry’s answer. Curly?”

Harry blushed and Louis smirked.

“Well, she’s fit.”

Louis choked on his own saliva, luckily only Jona, who was sitting beside him, noticed and chuckled softly; the audience and Alan were too occupied with whatever bullshit Harry was saying.

“Now, what did Louis call you right now, Harry? Curly?”

“Yeah, Curly.”

“I’m assuming it’s because of your hair. So, you two are good friends right?”

“Best friends.” Grinned Harry cheekily.

“Is that true, Louis?”

“No, not really. I barely know the lad.” Louis replied looking at Harry. Harry pouted.

“I’m kidding, Hazza!” Louis stood up, jumped over Alan Carr, and threw himself onto Harry (and a bit onto Will’s legs too, much to his dismay).

Harry only laughed loudly and put one hand on Louis’ back side of his waist, hoping it didn’t seem so suspicious. Louis righted himself on his lap and threw an arm around Harry’s shoulder like the good bromance they were.

“Woah there, be careful. We don’t want any deaths here on the Alan Carr show. Your fans might torture me.”

“I’m sure they will!” said Stan from the other side of Alan.

“I don’t want you to boys feel uncomfortable with this next question…oh, who am I kidding? I do, we all do! Okay…we all know that Harry and Louis love each other and are best mates and think the sun and the stars of each other blah blah, but what about the rest of you guys? Didn’t you have a feud on twitter? What was up with that?”

Both managements had prepared for all the boys for what they were going to say, still, they all looked at each other.

“…it wasn’t a feud…” sweatdropped Niall without much conviction.

“It wasn’t? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we weren’t all that serious. We both knew that.” Jona continued.

“Look, here we have some tweets from you guys!” Alan said pointing at the screen that was located nearby. Liam’s eyes widened as he was sure the rest of the lad’s had too. This wasn’t according to what they had practiced.

“It says, @NickTheEskimo tweeted to @ZaynRogueMalik@HaydnTheEskimo _we don’t need pretty faces, just practice. No help…_ what was that supposed to mean?”

“Erm,” Nick stuttered.

“Well, it’s because Zayn is a very pretty lad, innit?” interrupted Harry and Louis softly patted him in the back.

“Well that he is!” winked Alan.

“Yeah, like we said, we weren’t really being serious. We were just mates joking around, heh…”

It was a very weak story, something that the fans would pick up on, especially since Liam had once said that only one who had met White Eskimo had been Louis. It was a disaster but for now it was alright.

Luckily, Alan thought so too, “Now, both bands are mates with Ed Sheeran, aren’t you?”

“We are, amazing lad.” Will replied.

“Yeah, insanely talented. Most humble and grounded artist we’ve ever met, too.”

“Have the possibility of collaborating with him has ever crossed your mind?”

Liam felt breath come back to him as Alan finally steered the conversation to some other topic, “Yeah, yeah, in fact we’ve been…”

 ****

To say going on a beach date had been a bad decision would be an understatement.

After they boys recuperated from the traumatic experience that had been the Alan Carr interview, Louis and Harry decided, now that they both had finished their North American tour respectively, would spend a couple of weeks in Holmes Chapel (Harry’s hometown) and Doncaster (Louis’ hometown). That meant they would be separated a couple of days, as to not arouse even more rumors about the two of them.

Their plan completely failed when both boys admitted while they were Skyping that they wanted to see each other, screw the rumors.

During last week, they had been all around London and Liverpool, getting papped and being asked for autographs and pictures by fans. They hadn’t minded, not now that they were together and not separated by an ocean or schedules or miles and miles even if people didn’t know just how together they were. Life was good.

That is, until the two of them, along with Niall, Zayn and Perrie decided to spend their weekend in none other than Australia at the Lucky Bay beach.

Louis and Zayn had been in the Australian beaches before, and while Niall and Harry had been to Australia before, they had never had time to actually go to the beach.

As Harry stood above white, white sand and watched the blue, blue water, he understood why Louis had insisted on going there.  It was the most beautiful view he had ever seen.

“Oi, Styles! Quit your girl moment and stop staring at the sea and bring me my bloody beer!” Louis yelled as he sat on his white beach chair, getting sand on his feet, and working well a pair of blue trunks as his small cute/sexy tummy stuck out.

Well,  _second_ most beautiful view he had ever seen.

Harry grinned and continued walking towards Louis and sitting next to him. Zayn and Niall, who had also gotten quite along, thank god, were (trying, and miserably failing) playing beach volleyball in the water. Perrie was a bit far off sleeping and working on a much needed tan, according to her ( _I need a tan, look at me, I’m Harry Styles pale! I need a Louis Tomlinson tan, so, if you excuse me.)_

 Harry handed Louis his beer not breaking eye contact as he smiled.

“What are you looking at, Harry?”

“Your eyes…they seem bluer now that you’ve gotten tanner.”

“I hope that’s a compliment.”

“Everything I say about you is a compliment, Lou.” Harry softly said.

Louis blushed but moved his chair beside Harry’s so that they were sitting together.

“Look, I made a…giant chair.”

Harry laughed, “You are supposed to say something nice back to me Louis. You  _are_  my boyfriend after all.”

The older boy wrinkled his nose but said, “I’m not saying anything, because you’re ego is big enough.”

“Well, yours is even bigger.”

“That’s what she said.”

Harry cackled, making Louis smile in return, small crinkles forming by his eyes.

“Ok, fine, just because we’re both lame and you laughed at my even lamer joke…Harry, you look so freaking beautiful right now. Like the fucking wind is blowing you hair in every direction and I just want to touch it. Fuck, I just want to touch all of you.”

“Is that so?” Harry smirked as he inched closer to Louis. Their feet brushed and even that made Louis shiver. Fucking Harry Styles.

“Y-yeah.”

“Well, good because you—wait, did you call me  _lame_?”

“Oh, just get on with it, Harold!” Louis whined poking Harry in his (flat, flat, something Louis still wasn’t over with) stomach.

“Get on with what? People are nearby, Lou.” Harry licked his lip as he watched Louis’ own closely.

“So what? They don’t even recognize us, we’re in Australia. We’re not that big of a deal here.”

“Hm, perfectly good argument.” smiled Harry.

He inched even closer and gave Louis a small peck on the lips. They were barely touching, and Louis sighed in frustration before separating.

“Was that good enough for you, Tomlinson?”

“It would have to fucking do. Until we get to the hotel room at least. Mark my words, Curly, mark my words.”

“I’m not complaining.”

After finishing their beers, Harry decided to go with Niall and Zayn and beat them both in their own silly volleyball game. While Louis moved his chair next to Perrie’s so they could both sleep under the sun.

An hour passed, and while Harry and Niall went to go get them all some food, Louis sat with Zayn and Perrie in the sand to scroll down his twitter.

He froze.

**@CaitlynTommo tweeted:**    
_OH MY GOD! HARRY AND LOUIS?! TOGETHER FOR REALS?! THIS ISNT HAPPENING._

**@TheEskimosAreWicked tweeted:**    
_fucking louis Tomlinson, you turned our baby harry into a fag! You’ll fucking pay bastard_

**@niallmyhoran tweeted:** _  
omg WE TOLD YOU GUYS! WE TOLD YOU THEY WERE TOGETHER! IM SO HAPPY_

**@FrenchiesOle tweeted:**    
_hahahahhaha, so that guy from the rogue and the singer from white Eskimo are dating? I feel bad for all those girls who thought they were going to marry them #awesome #priceless_

**@roguesarelife tweeted:**    
_I fucking hate @HazzaTheEskimo_

**@hesnamesnotzelda tweeted:**  
_tbh I don’t really care about larry, I like both bands bc of their music, not bc I think im marrying 1 of em. Who care if they’re fucking?_

But how the fuck would they know? Why were they saying that?!

He kept scrolling down until he found a tweet with a link of a picture, he opened it.

It was a picture of him and Harry not even an hour ago _. A picture of them kissing._

The picture wasn’t even that good quality, so it had to have been a fan who had taken it and posted it in twitter or tumblr. Still, it was clear as day that it was indeed Louis and Harry kissing.

He almost fainted right there and there.

“Lou, mate, are you alright?” Zayn asked, but Louis could barely hear him.

“Louis? Louis?”

Louis shook his head. He dropped his phone.

**Worldwide Trends**

Louis and Harry  
Harry and Louis  
larry  
white eskimo  
the rogue  
#wesupportyou  
#fuckingliar  
larry shippers  
#weknewit  
#stopthelarry  
  


**** 

**SURPRISE OF THE YEAR! HARRY STYLES AND LOUIS TOMLINSON IN A SECRET RELATIONSHIP!**

            After much speculation, a picture posted in the social media outlet, Twitter, by a fan, revealed that, indeed, Styles and Tomlinson are in a relationship.

The picture depicts band members Styles, 18, singer from worldwide-known band, White Eskimo, and Tomlinson, 20, keyboardist of also, worldwide-known band, The Rogue, kissing in plain view at a famous beach located in Australia. Niall Horan, Styles’ bandmate, Zayn Malik, Tomlinson’s bandmate, and Perrie Edwards from girlband, Little Mix, and Malik’s known girlfriend, were supposedly also at the scene, completely relaxed and aware of the two artists snogging in the sand. This indicates that both men have been in a relationship since long ago.

Too many, this may come as a complete surprise. Neither Styles nor Tomlinson had ever come out to the press in any way shape or form, and many assumed they were both straight given the many rumors of alleged relationships or hookups.

Just last year, Styles had been strongly linked to country singer Taylor Swift and TV British presenter, Caroline Flack, to mention just the most popular. Louis Tomlinson had also been strongly rumored to be dating model Eleanor Calder as they were pictured going out and about the many streets of London and New York, however, this was never confirmed.

Now we may ask ourselves if all those women were simply beards.

As we mentioned, these news came as a brutal surprise to the majority, but there were many people who knew it was coming. Tomlinson and Styles had never been shy about their popular ‘bromance’, with them tweeting suggestive stuff to one another and hugging and sitting more than close whenever they were seen together. Just last week there were pictures every day of the boys spending all day with each other.

Now we know why.

Neither artist has confirmed anything; their family, friends, and own bandmates refuse to answer any questions regarding the relationship.

But what is the fans’ reaction to this? Both bands’ main income comes from teenage girls ranging from the age of ten to even the age of twenty-five.

Now all we do is wait for either band member to come out and say something, anything.

 ****

“What the bloody hell went through that small head of yours, Styles?” Oscar yelled, his face red, his hands white from pressure, and spit flew out everywhere. His eyes also could pop out.

Harry sat there, immobilized. Will occasionally glared at him but didn’t say anything, Haydn and Nick were just as scared as Harry was, and Niall…Niall, sat beside him, glaring at Oscar and keeping a hand on Harry’s thigh under the table.

It had been a mistake from Harry’s part, to be so imprudent, but then again, no, it hadn’t been Harry’s fault; he had the right to kiss his boyfriend whenever and wherever he wanted.

Besides, it had been a  _peck_.

“Do you know why we had to keep you in the fucking closet? Huh? Do any of you know why?!” he man eyed each one of them and pointed with his plump finger at Harry.

“Because the only reason those idiot girls buy your music and your posters and your fucking  _dolls_ , is because they think they’re going to marry him!”

They all flinched.

“That’s—that’s not true…” Niall said.

“Oh, but it is,  _Niall_. It’s not your music, it’s not even you other four. It’s Harry. Who is _gay_.”

“Well, how are we supposed to fix this? Tell us that instead of this bullshit.” Harry was now truly mad, everything Oscar had said was a lie. It wasn’t Harry, it was their music.

“I think we all need the truth once in a while, Harry. And that’s just it. But yes, there is a way to fix your stupidity.”

**

“But how do we fix this then?” Liam asked while he rubbed Louis’ back.

Roger, Richard, and even Marco were sitting at the table next to the boys, waiting for a verdict, staring at Lisa who sighed loudly.

“This is a giant mess.”

“Do you reckon we’ll lose our fans? How are they holding up?” Louis softly said, his eyes downcast.

“I don’t know, not all of them. And I’m not going to lie, you’ll lose some of them, I just don’t know how many.”

“They’ll gain some, LGBTQ community and all that.” Richard cut in, “You know how popular that’s getting.”

“If it counts for something, you’re everyone is talking about.” mentioned Roger.

“It’s not that big of a deal, is it? I mean, almost everyone band has someone who ends up being gay.” Stan shrugged.

Zayn and Jona nodded wisely.

“Of course every band has a gay member, but they come out  _after_  they’re done with everything. Not at the peak of their careers.” Lisa glared.

Lisa and her team had spent all night thinking about a course of action, damage control, anything. Whatever they chose, it didn’t please everyone. Some fans were mad because Louis was dating someone, other because said someone was a boy, others because it was _Harry Styles_  he was dating, others were just mad they had been lied to, which wasn’t exactly true since Louis had never stated his sexuality, but still. Others were extremely happy and others just didn’t care.

There were bags under the management team’s eyes (except for Marco because he had slept like a baby all night. Hey, he was only there to take pictures) and also all of the boys’.

“So what do we do?”

“Nothing. You’re all done with touring and promotion. There’s no future events, nothing. So you might as well announce you’re going on hiatus for a while, a break of sorts.”

“How long would this break be?” asked Stan

“A year.” Lisa stated.

“What, why?”

“It’s enough time for everything to cool down. Let all the drama go, don’t announce anything…neither of you. Just consider it vacation time, write some new music, take a course in uni, sleep for a whole year. I don’t know, you’ll have a whole year for yourselves, you’ve worked two years straight in a row, I guess you deserve it too.”

“That’s all?” a starry eyed Zayn asked.

“Yes. In a year we’ll see how the situation is.”

“Where do we announce it or what?”

“We’ll arrange something this week for you boys to officially announce it to the public. It’s the only time you’ll be allowed to say something to the public in official terms. You’ll also want to be off twitter for the first few months.”

“No tweeting?” complained Jona, but was soon shushed by a glaring Lisa.

“I don’t know how Modest will manage this, but we think this is the best for  _you_ , Louis. No drama.”

“Thank you, Lisa. Roger, Richard…Marco.” muttered Louis.

“You shouldn’t have been so reckless Louis, but…we understand the pressure that you’re under.”

Marco, for the first time in a meeting, spoke up, “You’re a good band, lads.”

Louis smiled.

**

“So? Tell us.”  _Tell us,_  y _ou prick_. “What are we going to do?” Harry asked, looking at Oscar who stared back.

“You deny.”

“ _What?_ ”

“You’ll deny everything, Harry Styles.”

“But how do I even do that? The pictures are very clear! No one is going to believe me!”

“Well, you better pray for you sorry ass then. Maybe you should start taking acting classes as of right now.”

“How do I even deny that?” How was he supposed to deny  _Louis_?

“Look, Styles, I’m going to tell you exactly how this is.” Oscar said slowly. “If you deny, then you might lose some fans who’ll call you a liar, yes. But if you  _don’t_  and you go around prancing that you’re gay, then you’ll lose everything. And not only you, but your bandmates. Think about them, Harry. They’ll lose everything because of your stupid mistake.”

Louis wasn’t a mistake.  _They_ , weren’t a mistake, but…it was true, he couldn’t do that to his bandmates.

His eyes stinged and tears threatened to fall, his throat closed off and his breath became ragged.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Of course you will. You’ll do it tonight via twitter.” Oscar smugly said.

“No.”

“What?” the fat man asked looking at Harry with wide eyes, but it hadn’t been Harry who had spoken.

“He’s not going to fucking do it. You think you’re keeping our friend in the fucking closet? Then think again you bastard.” Will stood up, glaring at Oscar.

“What are you talking about? He has to do it. To keep your little band where it is now. Besides, he already agreed.”

“Harry doesn’t know shit.” Will said and shook his head in an almost fond way while looking at Harry.  “And you’re a fucking moron if you think Harry’s the one making us famous. It’s our fucking music and my fucking vibrant personality, you ass.”

Niall laughed and stood up next to Will. “We’re fucking White Eskimo, and we have millions of fans and the ones who matter are not going to leave us just because Harry likes to kiss Louis Tomlinson. Hell, even  _I’d_  tap that ass.”

Haydn smirked, “Me too.”

“Yeah, probably I’d do too—sorry, Haz.” Nick stood up with the rest of his friends.

“So what do you plan on doing, huh? You’re under contract, we’ll sue you. And even then, you’re just kids,  _we_  made you famous.”

“Then go on and fucking sue us, Oscar.”

Harry interrupted, “Will, I—”

“Styles, shut up. How many times have I told you? I’m the leader, I make the decisions.” Will said.

Niall scoffed with a smile on his face.

“Alright, we’re leaving. Have fun suing us and fucking that bitch Katie Ray! C’mon guys.” Will started walking towards the door and Niall, Nick and Haydn quickly followed him. After a beat, Harry did too but was still too shocked by his friend’s actions.

When they were outside the room he said, “Guys, Will, you didn’t have to do that.”

“We kinda did, Harry. He was an asshole, we’ve never liked him or the rest of Modest, remember?” Niall shrugged.

“Yes, and he was saying we were talentless. Who the fuck says that to their client?” Haydn frowned as they made their way outside. Harry figured they were taking the subway, there were no security guards following them so they probably didn’t have a driver either.

“ _And_ , he was forcing you into the closet, Harry. What the fuck, after the fucking picture? Besides, you’re like a fucking fairy princess; I don’t even know how people thought you were straight in the first place.” Will nonchalantly said.

Harry laughed and threw himself at Will’s back, hugging him.

“Ew, Harry, you’re going to give me The Rogue cooties! Get away from me.”

Harry smiled.

 ****

“What is the reason for this hiatus? Liam? Louis?!” A reporter amongst many, yelled.

The bright lights of the room on top of the ones from the camera were blinding, still, the five boys managed.

Liam answered, “We decided it might have been time for a break. We’ve been working on two albums and two tours these past two years. I think it’ well deserved.”

“Who was the one with the idea?!” yelled another.

“All of us, and our manager agreed.” supplied Zayn. The lights were blinding.

“What do you plan on doing for a whole year?!”

Jona replied, “Well, going back to Doncaster to spend time with family and friends, of course. Just to relax. We might start writing some stuff for a new album…maybe.”

A man dressed in a black suit and black sunglasses signaled for them that the time was up.

“That’s all the time there is, sorry. We are leaving now!” yelled Stan over the reporters all yelling at the same time.

“No, wait one last question!”

Zayn was the first to move, followed by the rest of the band members; Louis was the last one in the line.

“Louis! Are you really dating Harry Styles?! Or was it just a stunt?”

Louis, who had been the quietest one on the press conference, rarely answering questions, stopped and got near one the microphones.

“My boyfriend  _is_  Harry Styles. Thank you, have a good night.”

With that, he promptly left.

_**_

_[www.WhiteEskimoMusic.com](http://www.whiteeskimomusic.com/) _

_Dear Eskimos,_

_Hello :) Glad you’re visiting our page! This is just a quick official announcement to anyone who wanted to know: we’ve recently dropped our ex management team, Modest! Management and its partner label, SYCO. It was a mutual decision between bandmates and we’re really satisfied with our decision. This, of course doesn’t mean we’ll stop making music or the like. On the contrary we’ll take this time off we have without a label, to go back to our roots and start writing music from scratch. On another note, each and every one of us is happy with our personal choices and we’re more than thankful to everyone who has stayed by our side since the very beginning, you guys are our light. Thank you. And remember to keep on seeing the_ Brightside _of things!_

_With Love,  
Harry, Will, Nick, Haydn, and Niall!_

**** 

The months both, Louis and Harry, had off, had been the best they had had in a very long time.

When they weren’t in Doncaster visiting Louis’ mom and sisters, they were in Holmes Chapel with Harry’s parents and sister, Gemma.

And when they weren’t there, they were in London moving Harry’s stuff to the flat Louis had there. Although that was still very rare and when they did, they visited in very low profile.

Most of the time though, them, along with Liam, Zayn, and Niall, all got together in one of their houses and wrote music. After a while, they started playing it. And after a while longer, they recorded themselves playing it. After much longer, they uploaded the videos to YouTube for their fans to watch.

Unlike in their respective bands, all of them sang in harmony during choruses, while Harry, Liam and Zayn sang without instruments and Niall and Louis had their guitar and piano respectively.

With Harry, Zayn, and Liam on vocals, Louis on piano, and Niall on guitar, they had become and internet sensation.

Fans from both, The Rogue and White Eskimo, had been ecstatic about this side project the five friends had started. It was slightly different from White Eskimo’s alternative rock sound and from The Rogue’s Indie pop/rock sound. For a change, it was acoustic.

One day, after one of their first and most popular videos was uploaded (a slightly different version of Harry’s  _Over Again_ ) one fan commented:  _Wow, you guys sound amazing…but, do you have a name?_

And after much debate, a couple of slaps later, and a make out session from Louis and Harry’s part, they replied:  _Yes, we’re One Direction_.

And from then on, they uploaded their videos under the name of One Direction.

After months later of Harry and Louis, sort of coming out, things had certainly cooled down. They had ‘fans’ who had left them, but they were mostly the younger fans. They did gain a lot more, Louis even felt they had a more mature audience.

The rest of The Rogue also stayed in Doncaster during their hiatus, with Jona taking photography classes and Stan opening his own restaurant, Stan’s Milkshakes, which proved to be surprisingly popular. The milkshakes were good. Either way, the five still took time off their respective activities to hang out once in a while. Sometimes they discussed music and what they wanted to do with their next album. But more often than not, they played FIFA, or Halo, or just went to get some food and milkshakes at Stan’s restaurant, where fans always seemed to camp outside.

On the other hand, White Eskimo didn’t stay in their hometowns. Niall and Harry found themselves more and more focused on One Direction so they almost lived in Louis’ house, much to Jay’s delight. Haydn was spending his money traveling the world, and meeting a lot of pretty girls…and boys. While Nick decided to buy a house in Los Angeles, California. Will moved to London with his girlfriend, where he continued writing music and once in a while receiving new songs from Harry.

 They also got signed to Rocket Music Management, The Rogue’s management, where apparently they were thriving on getting a hold on the two most famous British bands of the moment. It  _didn’t_  really matter two of them were gay and dating each other. At least not after Lisa had seen all the money the two bands made together. Roger and Richard were still as useless as ever. Marco was now the official photographer of both bands.

All ten boys were satisfied and content with how everything turned out, but the happiest ones were certainly Louis and Harry.

“Where are we, Harry?” Louis said as he got out of Harry’s car.

Harry sighed, “We’re in Cardiff, Louis, I told you already.”

“But,  _why_ are we in Cardiff?”

Harry smiled with his mouth at its widest, just like Louis liked it. “Well, see for yourself, Loueh!”

Louis looked up to where a sign was located. “The Bristol… _The Grillstock Bristol_?”

Harry laughed, holding Louis’ hand in his own as they neared the ticket booth.

“Harry, did you bring me to a  _barbeque festival_?!”

“That I did, babe.”

“A barbeque festival? On our one-year anniversary?! You suck at this, Harry.”

“Oi, don’t complain! This place is full of barbeque, Louis, barbeque!”

“I’m not sure if Justin Bieber is still single…is he?”

“C’mon!” Harry ran inside like a little kid, looking wide eyed at all the stands and wafting aromas and yeah—Louis couldn’t complain, not when Harry looked so beautiful and tugged at his hand like that. Besides, barbeque wasn’t that bad. At least better than cheese.

They walked through stands and stands of meat and Louis and Harry ate a little of everything. Louis sighed happily, he had given up on dieting ever since he started dating Harry, it was impossible with that boy.

“So, we better go find a good spot, yes?” Harry said as he munched on a barbeque pizza.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Harry rolled his eyes with a smile, “You should really start listening to what people are saying instead of thinking about me. I mean, I know I’m cute and everything, but honestly, Lou.”

“You will never stop being cheeky, will you, Curly?” Louis ruffled Harry’s curls.

“Never!”  _Good._

_“_ Anyways, I was  _saying_ , that we should get a good spot to watch the fireworks, let’s go, they’ll start in ten minutes.”

“Fireworks? Why would they even have  _fireworks_  at a  _barbeque festival_?”

“Because, it’s fun, Louis. Obviously.” Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Louis supposed it was.

“Okay, c’mon.”

They walked to a secluded area, where they sat beneath a tree. There weren’t many people there yet, but they were probably going to arrive soon.

“Louis, can I have some of your double cheese barbeque burger? Please?” Harry pouted as he eyed Louis’ burger.

Louis laughed, “Only if you give me a kiss!”

Harry moved his hand under his chin, as if in thought. “Hmm, what would it be? A bite of that delicious burger in exchange of my lip virginity or not?”

Louis sputtered.

“Lip virginity?! Have you forgotten what your  _lips_  did last night Harry?” Louis said just a bit too loudly.

“Louis, there’s elderly people here!” Harry laughed maniatically.

“Well, I bet they know what we’re talking about then!”

“Oh, my god. Mental Image I did not want!”

“Ew, Harold!”

“Oh, just give me your burger!”

“Nuh, uh. I still don’t have that kiss.”

Harry rolled his eyes, but moved closer to Louis, almost sitting in his lap even though he was much taller than the older boy.

He smiled as their lips softly grazed. Louis deepened it, and the forgotten burger dropped to the grass. At this point, their kisses were like breathing, too familiar, and too needed. They were still like that first time; something new, but still achingly familiar, something that was already part of them but that could be a completely new adventure. They kissed like the first time, but they also kissed as if it were the last time. Too needy of the one another, delicate but passionate. If they had any say in anything, it would not be the last time, not until they grew old, wrinkly, and couldn’t even remember their own names. Not that Louis would forget Harry’s name, maybe his own, but not Harry’s. Harry Styles was like a tattoo in his brain, something that would forever be engraved at the very core of his heart. Harry was home.

And to Harry, Louis was home.

“Lou—the fireworks.” Harry pointed at the sky, where fireworks of all sizes and colors were bursting in the sky next to the millions of stars.

“Yeah, yeah.” Louis disentangled himself from Harry, although his legs were still on beneath of Harry’s lankier ones.

They both stared at the sky.

Louis had always loved fireworks, there was something magical about all the colors and figures mixing together, the dark color of the night their background.

“It’s really…magical.” he muttered softly, not taking his eyes of the night sky.

Meanwhile, Harry was also looking at something breathtaking: Louis. He smiled, and Louis must have felt Harry’s green eyes (those green eyes he was still very adamant about writing songs about).

He turned to face his boyfriend, both locked eyes and soft smiles.  
  
“It is. It’s magic, Lou.” 

~ the end.  
  


 

 

 

 


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